Return to Normal
by Engage Fiction
Summary: With a new assignment, Dani Janeway is back on the Enterprise. But from day one, she has more than just her duties to worry about. Repost
1. Chapter 1

Story #5 in the "More Than a Lifetime" series

Author's Note: This story is the fifth in a series of stories that do not follow cannon and should not be taken as such. The previous stories, in order, are: 1) Delta Wild, 2) Homecoming, 3) Graduation, and 4) A Love Less Ordinary. The events in these stories occur in an alternate universe in which Chakotay's stint with the Maquis happened much earlier in his life. He is married to Kathryn Janeway, and they have a daughter. In this universe, Voyager did not combine with a crew from a Maquis ship, but instead reached the Delta Quadrant with a small loss of life and most of her crew in tact. The events of "First Contact" and "Insurrection" have already occurred in this timeline, but "Nemesis" has not. The Dominion War occurred, but with vastly different results. Many of the events of the final season of Deep Space Nine didn't occur, which means the characters that died during the season are not dead in my story.

Chapter 1

The turbolift halted, and the doors opened, revealing ship's counselor Deanna Troi, who had been waiting patiently for the lift to arrive.

"Goodmorning, Deanna," said Will Riker, who was already occupying the lift..

"Will - goodmorning," Troi said, stepping into the lift and joining the commander. "You're just the person I wanted to see."

"Really?" Will asked. The lift doors slid shut, and Deanna instructed it to go to the bridge, Will's destination as well. "What can I do for you?" Will asked.

"Well, it's about Dani," Deanna revealed, with some degree of caution in her voice.

"What about her?" Will inquired, caution creeping into his own voice.

"I've been fielding some concerns about her serving aboard the Enterprise," Deanna said.

Will looked at her, puzzled. Why would anyone be concerned about Dani Janeway, Will wondered silently. He already knew the answer, though. He didn't even know why he was trying to pretend like he didn't. He had a feeling he knew the exact words that were going to come from the counselor's lips.

Deanna continued, answering Will's unasked question. "People are concerned about her relationship with Dukat."

"She no longer has a relationship with Dukat," Will said, immediately tensing at the subject of conversation. He knew it. Dani's relationship - former relationship - with the infamous Cardassian was going to be a hot topic for weeks, perhaps months, to come. It had all ended almost a year ago, with the execution of the former gul by the Romulans, and Dani had moved on, apparently. She and Will had resumed their romantic relationship three months ago during one of his visits to Deep Space Nine. They were together again, just like the old days. Despite the fact that Dani was leaving DS9 having served Starfleet to the best of her abilities, and one rank higher to show for it, he and Dani both knew that her past relationship with Dukat would be all that a lot of people saw for a long time to come. It wasn't something that was just going to go away. That much was obvious, given the fact that Dukat had died almost a year ago, and people were still talking about him and Dani.

Deanna had expected the automatic defense that Will projected regarding Dani, and she understood his need to do so. But it didn't change the fact that there were people on board the Enterprise who didn't want Dani there. "Regardless, they're questioning her loyalty to Starfleet," she said.

"That's absurd," Will said. "Dani's as true to Starfleet and the Federation as you and I are."

"I know that, but many don't." Deanna didn't like being the bearer of a lot of unpleasant news, especially on a day when she knew Will was excited, but there was more that he needed to be aware of concerning the crew's attitude toward Dani Janeway. "People are also concerned that she's going to be on the receiving end of some special treatment," Deanna added hesitantly.

"Special treatment?" Will couldn't believe his ears. "Computer, halt turbolift." The lift came to a complete stop. Will turned to Deanna. It wasn't enough that Dani would have to deal with the backlash of her relationship with Dukat, was it? She would also have to deal with the backlash of being her. He didn't know why it was so hard for people to accept that the daughter of Kathryn Janeway and Chakotay could come up through the ranks and prosper without the help of "connections". "Who exactly has been coming to you with these 'concerns'?" Will asked. It came out more harshly than he'd intended, especially since he knew Deanna was only doing her job by informing him. He knew she hated it as much as he did. She knew Dani, too.

"A significant number of officers," was Deanna's calm reply. "There are a lot of people who don't want Dani on this ship, Will."

Hearing her say the words Will had known were true was hard. How could people hate so much the woman he'd come to adore? He merely turned to the turbolift doors and said, "That's unfortunate." Dani didn't deserve this kind of reception, he thought. All she'd ever wanted to do was be a good officer. "They don't even know her," Will said quietly. "But I don't have time to go and personally talk to every officer on this ship who has a problem with Dani Janeway."

"I'm well aware of that," Deanna said. She understood perfectly Will's sentiments, and she thought he was well justified in feeling the way he did. But he did have a job to do here, as she did. In coming to him, she had hoped that this would aid him in his tasks as first officer. She continued. "But as the ship's first officer, personnel matters do fall into your duties. I'm asking you to talk with the department heads and ask that they not give any special treatment to anyone."

"None of them would ever do that," Will defended.

"I know, but it would put a lot of people at ease if you talked to them."

Will considered the proposition. He had to admit he had thought of the possibility of personnel problems concerning Dani. He'd even submitted to the fact that those problems weren't just possibilities; they were likelihoods. He just didn't want to believe it. He acquiesced and nodded in response to Deanna's suggestion. Calmer, he said, "Perhaps it couldn't hurt. Computer-"

"It would also be a good idea if you treated Dani like you would treat any other junior officer while you're on duty," Troi interrupted.

"Of course," Will said, bristling at the silent implication that he would ever act in such an unprofessional manner. Deanna picked up on it.

"Will, I'm not suggesting that you would behave otherwise," Deanna was sure to add. "It's just a reminder."

"I know," Will said genuinely with a sigh. He was getting all worked up over this, and Dani wasn't even on board yet. Deanna was just trying to help, and he was snapping at her like she was to blame for all that she'd told him. "I appreciate it," Will said sincerely, thanking the counselor for her help. "Computer, resume." The turbolift began its ascent once again.

"I just didn't realize the effect having Dani aboard would create," Will continued. "I've been aware of how we should both behave on duty. And I knew a few people would have some qualms with her because of Dukat and her relationship with me, but is it really that many?"

"I wouldn't have come to you if it were only a few people who had expressed concerns," Deanna said.

The turbolift came to a halt again, this time at its destination - the bridge. The doors slid open, and Will and Deanna glided onto the bridge. Data, who had been in command, stood from the captain's chair and relinquished control to Will.

"We have arrived at Deep Space Nine," Data reported.

"Thank you, Mr. Data," Will said. "On screen." A visual of the space station Deep Space Nine appeared on the view screen at the head of the bridge. Will tapped his comm badge. "Bridge to Captain Picard," Will began, "We've arrived at Deep Space Nine."

"Very well, then, Number One," Picard's voice sounded through the badge.

A few moments later, Captain Jean-Luc Picard emerged from his ready room adjacent to the bridge. His sight went directly to the view screen.

"Captain, Colonel Kira is hailing us," the communications/tactical officer reported.

"Put her through," Picard instructed. The viewscreen image of the space station was immediately replaced by that of Colonel Kira Nerys. "Colonel," Picard greeted.

"Captain Picard," Kira said, "How good it is to see you again."

"It is good to see you as well," Picard said. "How are things on the station?"

"Things are running quite smoothly, fortunately," Kira informed him. "Captain Bunche sends his regards. He regrets that he won't be in attendance at the reception this evening. He was called away on official business. I'm sure you understand."

"All too well, Colonel," Picard responded. He had been looking forward to talking with Captain Bunche again. They shared an interest in archeology, which made for wonderful conversations. He'd gotten to know Bunch much better than Ben Sisko, DS9's former captain, who had taken a leave of absence to spend time on Bajor. The Dominion War hadn't afforded Sisko or Picard the opportunity to become friendly with one another. War had a habit of doing that.

Picard continued. "I understand we are to be taking on a former crewmember of yours."

"Ah, yes," Kira said, "Lt. Janeway. I must say I'm sorry to see her leave. She's become a valued member of the DS9 crew. We'll miss her." It was true. Despite Dani's connection to Dukat, Kira had grown very fond of the young woman. She was a hard worker, a good officer. She would make a good addition to the Enterprise team. "She should be arriving shortly," Kira said.

"Captain," the comm/tactical officer began, "Lt. Janeway's shuttle has just docked in shuttlebay two."

"Thank you, Lt.," Picard said, directing his attention back to the colonel. "I've just been informed that my new officer has arrived. If you'll excuse me, Colonel, I'm going to go greet her."

"By all means, Captain," Kira said. "I look forward to seeing you at the reception this evening."

"And I, you," Picard said.

Kira smiled warmly. "Kira out." The communication was terminated, and Kira's image was replaced by the image Deep Space Nine.

Picard looked at Will and Deanna. The three filed off the bridge into the waiting turbolift.

"I imagine this particular occasion must be a joyous one for you, Will," Picard said, once the lift doors had closed.

Will smiled, not even attempting to hide it. "Yes, sir. It is," he said. Despite his earlier conversation with Deanna, he was still excited about Dani's arrival. "It's very fortunate for the Enterprise that Lt. Janeway will be joining the crew. She's a valuable asset that any captain would be proud to have serving on his ship."

"Oh, yes," Picard replied. "She graduated at the top of her class at the Academy and completed command school. And she's matured into an excellent officer."

"That she has, sir," Will agreed.

The turbolift continued for a few moments before coming to a halt. When the doors opened, Troi, Riker, and Picard stepped out, walked down the corridor and into shuttlebay two.

Will waited anxiously as the shuttle hatch opened. He noticed that his heart rate had risen, as had his body temperature. His palms were also sweaty. He had already begun to wipe them on his uniform when he realized that Deanna was looking at him. She could probably sense how he was feeling, although she didn't say anything.

Will turned his attention back to the shuttle, and there she was. She was just as beautiful as the last time he'd seen her, if not more so, and one rank higher. Her eyes rested on him briefly before falling on the captain.

"Permission to come aboard, Captain," she requested.

"Permission granted, Lt.," Picard said. Lt. Danielle Janeway stepped off the shuttle gangplank and onto the deck of the U.S.S. Enterprise 1701-E. Picard stepped forward with his hand extended. Dani stepped forward as well and met him, shaking the captain's hand. "Welcome aboard," he said.

"Thank you, Captain," Dani said.

"It's good to have you back on board the Enterprise," Picard said.

"It's good to be back on board, sir," Dani replied.

"How are your parents?" Picard inquired. It had been a while since he'd last seen Admiral Janeway and Captain Chakotay.

"They're well. My father is enjoying his teaching post at the Academy, and my mother is keeping busy at headquarters."

"Very good."

"Welcome aboard, Dani," Deanna said warmly.

"Thank you, Counselor," Dani said.

"Hello," Will said.

"Hello," Dani said, looking up at Will, briefly. She couldn't afford to gaze at him to long. If she did, she wouldn't be able to look away.

"The commander will be showing you to your quarters," Picard said. "It's good to see you again, Dani." He turned to Will. "I'll be on the bridge."

"Aye, sir," Will said, as the captain left the shuttle bay. He turned his attention back to Dani. "If you'll follow me." Will, Deanna, and Dani left the shuttle bay. None of them said very much during the journey to Dani's quarters, probably because of the awkward situation the three of them were in. A man, his ex-lover, and his current lover - and all of them officers serving on the same ship in positions where they would all inevitably interact with each other. Despite the friendly smiles they sported, one didn't have to be an empath to sense the tension and uneasiness surrounding the three officers. When they reached their destination, the tension wasn't lifted.

"Well, this is it," Will said casually as the three of them walked in. "I hope it's to your liking."

"Oh, yes. Definitely," Dani said, looking around the living room area.

"I know it's not the lap of Cardassian luxury you're used to," Will said.

"Believe me, I think I can adjust," Dani assured him. "It'll be nice to get back to a real bed for a change. I'd had about all I could take of those hard Cardassian excuses for beds."

A long, awkward, silent moment followed. No one knew what to say next. Finally, Deanna spoke up.

"I'd better get going," she said. "I've got to see how things are looking for tonight."

"Right," Will said. Deanna nodded to them both before exiting. Will and Dani looked across the room at each other. They walked to each other and embraced.

"You have no idea how long I've been waiting to do that," Will said.

"I bet I do," said Dani.

"I wanted to gather you into my arms when you first stepped out of the shuttle." He looked at her. "But with the captain there. And Deanna..." Dani reached up and pulled Will's head to her own. Her lips met his for the first time in months. When she pulled away, she expected him to pursue her and was surprised when he didn't.

"You haven't seen me in three months, and all you want is one kiss?" Dani asked. She had to admit, she was somewhat confused.

"I don't think I can afford any more right now," Will said, a hint of a smile on his face.

"Affordability was never a factor before," Dani pointed out, raising one eyebrow.

"If I get involved now, I'm not going to want to leave for the rest of the day, and I am currently on duty. And tonight, we're holding a reception and dinner for some of the admirals tonight."

"That sounds like fun," Dani said, lacking enthusiasm.

"The captain would like for you to be in attendance," Will informed her.

"Me?" Dani certainly wasn't anyone important enough that her presence would be missed at a reception for admirals. Was she? "Why?"

Will was surprised that she didn't know. "Well, you're only one of the most talked-about officers in the 'Fleet," he said.

Dani was suddenly aware. "That was almost a year ago," she said of her relationship with Dukat. Most of her colleagues on DS9 didn't talk about what had happened between her and Dukat. Because she no longer heard anything about the whole subject, she assumed others on other ships had put it to rest, as well. She was wrong. "I thought everyone would be over that by now. I am."

"Captain Picard and Colonel Kira just want to show everyone what kind of officer you really are," Will said, trying to justify everything. "He wants to give who ever wants it a chance to talk to you personally."

Dani stepped away from Will. She didn't want to be hearing what she was hearing. "I can't believe this. You're telling me the whole purpose of this reception is to put me on display?"

"No, that's not the purpose of it at all. It's just a get-together for the admirals. But the captain and Deanna both thought it would be a good idea. It would kind of serve as another opportunity for you to clear your name. Frankly, I think it's a good idea, too."

"Why didn't anyone discuss this with me?" Dani asked. While she, too, believed this was a good idea, she was a little upset that the decision to go along with it had been made without her consent.

"That was inconsiderate of us. On the behalf of all of us, I apologize. But, Dani, you've got to realize what a good opportunity this is for you to explain your side of things."

"I do realize the opportunity. That's why I'm not madder than I am. What time should I be there?"

"The reception starts at 1800 hours."

"And I was so looking forward to getting re-acquainted with you," Dani said regretfully.

Will took her hand and pulled her to him. "We can still do that," he assured her.

"Tonight?" Dani asked hopefully.

Will shook his head regrettably and said, "No, I don't think so. We don't know what time this is going to be over with, and I have an early shift tomorrow." He kissed her. "And so do you."

Dani looked up at Will's neatly-bearded face and could tell he wasn't joking about the shift.

"See you tonight," Will said, this time kissing Dani on the cheek instead of the lips. He walked to the door and said "Dress uniform," before walking out.

"I hate those things," Dani said once she was alone.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Dani walked into Ten-Forward at 1815 hours. The room seemed to be packed with dignitaries, ambassadors, and various Starfleet personnel. Dani looked around. There were a few familiar faces. The senior crew members from Deep Space Nine were in attendance, as well as the senior officers of the Enterprise. She spotted Will almost immediately, but she wasn't sure if she should approach him. He was with some captains and a few admirals. Dani looked at the Deep Space Nine crew. They were talking animatedly amongst themselves. Dani didn't know who to go to. She was, after all, only a Lt., and junior grade at that. And this dress uniform made her feel...different. She pulled uncomfortably at her collar.

A Bolian waiter approached Dani with a tray of champagne and offered her a glass. She politely declined. How would it look if she were seen knocking back a glass of booze? Even if it was only synthehol, these people probably already had a low opinion of her. There was no use in making it worse.

Will, standing with Captain Picard, Colonel Kira, and some admirals, scanned the room for Dani. His eyes landed on the entrance just as Dani walked through the doors.

"You two have got to meet this girl," Admiral Paris was saying to Admiral Jellico and Admiral Nechayev. "She's phenomenal."

"And there she is," Will said. He turned to the others standing around him. "If you all will excuse me, I'll go get her. Admirals, Captain." He left them and started to walk in Dani's direction.

When Dani looked away from the waiter, she saw that Will was coming her way.

"Dani," he said with a smile.

"Will," she said. Her own smile was absent. "I hope I'm not too late. I just didn't want to be the first one here."

"No, no. You're right on time. Admiral Nechayev and Admiral Jellico are dying to meet you."

"Me?" Dani asked, genuinely surprised.

"Admiral Paris has been telling them all about you," Will explained. "So has Colonel Kira."

Another waiter approached them. Dani turned him down.

"Calm down," Will said. It was quite apparent to him that she was a little on the nervous side. "You've got to loosen up a bit. Relax." He picked up one of the glasses of synthetic champagne and handed it to Dani as they started to walk. She refused again.

"I can't," she said. "I don't feel like a drink right now."

Will nodded and took a sip from the glass. "Are you nervous?"

"No," Dani lied. "I've been doing this kind of stuff since I was a kid." It was true. Her parents had been dragging her to these kind of functions since she was old enough to walk and talk. And she'd hated every moment of every one of them.

"Yes, but you've never done this before as an officer," Will pointed out.

That's what the problem was now. Now, Dani would be under the direct scrutiny of everyone here. Now, these functions actually counted for something. "Are you trying to make me nervous?" Dani asked.

"No," Will said innocently. "Just trying to remind you of the situation."

"Thanks, but no reminder needed."

By the time Will and Dani reached the admirals' group, Will had drained his glass and was handing it off to a waiter. He cleared his throat and began.

"Admirals, this is Lt. Junior Grade Danielle Janeway," Will introduced. "Lt., may I present Admiral Edward Jellico and Admiral Alynna Nechayev."

Dani nodded formally to the admirals. "It's an honor, sirs," she said.

"And you're already acquainted with Colonel Kira, Captain Picard, and Admiral Paris," Will continued.

"Yes, I am," Dani concurred. "And as always, it is a pleasure to be in the company of you all."

"And, of course, you know Admiral Janeway," Will said finally.

It took a moment for Janeway to register with Dani. When she finally did, Dani was already shaking her hand.

"Mom," she said. "I didn't expect to see you here."

"What kind of greeting is that from a daughter to a mother?" Kathryn asked. "I would appreciate a hug, Lt. That's an order."

Dani embraced her mother. "Now, that's more to my liking," Janeway said.

The others standing around the little group chuckled and moved off to give the mother and daughter some space.

"What are you doing here?" Dani asked Kathryn. It wasn't as if Dani was embarrassed to have her mother there. She was just a little surprised.

"I received an invitational message a few months ago, before you were transferred," Kathryn explained. "I thought it'd be nice to surprise you and also to congratulate you on your new post and to celebrate."

"Thanks," Dani said. "I'm glad you came. Is Dad here, too?"

"Your father couldn't make it. He had an anthropology symposium to attend at the Academy."

"Oh," Dani said. Despite the fact that she and her father had smoothed over the rough edges of their relationship of the past year, Dani still wasn't completely convinced that their relationship was as it was before Dukat. She didn't know if it could ever get back to that point.

Kathryn immediately noticed the slightly hurt look that crossed Dani's face. "He really did want to come," Kathryn assured her daughter. "He's the keynote speaker at the symposium, though, so he had to be there."

"I understand," Dani said. "I really do."

"I'm glad," Kathryn said, smiling. Dani smiled back. "So, how are things with Will?"

"They're good."

"Just 'good'?"

"What is it with you and Dad and my relationships?" Dani asked with a frustrated sigh.

"We just want you two be happy, Sweetheart. That's all we've ever wanted for you."

"Well, I am happy," Dani said, still with a smile - a real one.

Kathryn smiled and nodded in the direction of the group of admirals. Dani nodded, and she and Kathryn rejoined Will, Picard, and the admirals.

"So sorry for stealing my daughter away for a few minutes," Kathryn said. "But she's all yours, now."

"Wonderful," said Admiral Nechayev. "I should like to have a few words with the Lt."

Dani cast a desperate look at Will and her mother. She'd heard much about Nechayev from her parents and from Will. The last thing in the world she wanted was to be alone with her. But she had no choice.

"Of course, Admiral," Dani said. She left the group once again, this time with Nechayev instead of her mother. Every possibility of what Nechayev might say to her was running through her head.

Once they'd ventured a good distance away from the group, Nechayev spoke up.

"I've heard a lot about you, Lt.," she said. "Almost all of it good." She stopped walking and looked at Dani. "I think you know what I'm getting at, here, Lt. I have no warmth anywhere in my heart for Cardassians, especially Dukat. I'm going to be frank. I was downright appalled when I learned that a Starfleet officer was involved with Dukat."

Dani's heart was in her throat. She could feel the dressing down coming.

Nechayev continued. "I was to the point of personally writing your court- martial report when I realized that I wouldn't know what to write for the reason. You can't court-martial someone for his personal life unless it serves as a threat to the 'Fleet or the Federation, but your relationship with Dukat could very well have fit that bill. He was a former enemy of the Federation." Nechayev took a step closer to Dani. "I'm going to give you a piece of advice, and I suggest you take it. Be careful who you become involved with in your off-duty life. You're a good officer with a lot of potential. We need you. Don't let someone like Dukat drag you down." She took a step away from Dani, returning to her previous possition. "That said," she concluded, "good luck on the Enterprise." Nechayev left Dani alone.

Will had been keeping a curious eye on Nechayev and Dani. The first thing he noticed once Nechayev left was the deathly pale pallor that had come over Dani. She looked petrified.

"Excuse me," Will said, extricating himself from the group. He walked over to Dani. "Are you okay? What's the matter? What did she say to you?"

Dani took a deep breath. "According to her, I was on the edge of getting court-martialed," she said.

"That's what she told you?" Will asked. He'd never seen Dani so rattled before. Even when she'd taken the Academy entrance exams, she didn't seem to be all that worried. Now, she looked like she was about to faint.

Dani nervously fidgeted with her jittery hands. "She had already started writing the report when she realized she didn't have a valid reason to finish it. She said she was writing it personally."

Will looked across the room. Nechayev had rejoined the other admirals. She returned his gaze with a steady one of her own.

He looked at Dani. "You've got to pull yourself together," he whispered in her ear. "Don't let her get under your skin. That's what some of these admirals do. Especially Nechayev. She's a by-the-book type. I can tell you, it won't be the last time you feel like this. You just need to develop a tougher skin, that's all."

Dani nodded. Will was right. Nechayev had said she'd almost court- martialed her. But she hadn't. Dani was still an officer. So, what was she so afraid of? She picked up a glass of champagne from a passing waiter's tray. She was ready for that drink now. She downed the liquid in one swift motion and placed the empty glass on the bar, directly behind her. She took a deep breath and walked over to the admirals' group for the third time of the night, Will following her.

Will studied Dani. She was the picture of composure. "Now," she said, "who's turn is it?"

"I believe mine," Admiral Paris said, stepping forward. He offered his arm to Dani. She accepted it, and they left the group. The remaining members of the group became engaged in a conversation.

"Will," Kathryn said. She was little distant from the rest of the group. Will stepped over to join her. "What's the matter with Dani?" Kathryn asked.

"She was just a little rattled by some news that Nechayev told her," Will replied.

"What kind of news?"

"Dani, it seems, came very close to being court-martialed," Will revealed.

"What?" This was the first Kathryn had heard of any plans to court-martial Dani. She worked at headquarters. Any news like that would surely have crossed her desk at some point.

"Because of Dukat," Will said. "Dani said Nechayev told her she even started writing the report personally when she found out about the relationship."

Kathryn grimaced internally. She wanted to protect her daughter. What mother wouldn't? But she couldn't protect Dani from something she'd already done. "I have a feeling this is something that's going to haunt Dani's record for a long time to come, especially if things with the Cardassians flare up again."

"If that happens, Starfleet's going to be watching her like a hawk," Will agreed. "It's going to be like Captain Picard and the Borg all over again."

Will and Kathryn looked across the room at Dani and Admiral Paris. "She's strong," Kathryn said. "I think she can handle it."

"That might not be the only thing she has to deal with," Will said. Kathryn looked at him curiously. "This morning, I had a talk with Deanna. She said members of the crew have been coming to her with concerns about Dani receiving special treatment."

"I think everyone knew that was going to be an issue when Dani decided that she wanted a career in Starfleet," Kathryn said. "That's nothing new. She's been dealing with that all her life."

"Deanna said many of the crew members that came to her also had concerns about Dani's past with Dukat."

Kathryn looked at her daughter again. "As a mother, I wish there was something I could do to make it all better for her," she said. "But as a Starfleet officer, I understand why people feel the way they do about her. She's had a controversial past. The hard truth is that while we all have to prove ourselves, she's going to have a much more difficult go at doing that than either of us did."

"I think she can do it," Will said.

"Of course she can. This is one of the few times I'm glad she inherited the stubborn gene that runs on my side of the family." She smiled, and Will returned her smile.

Xxx

When Dani return to her quarters that night, it was late, as Will had predicted, and all she really wanted to do was fall into bed and sleep. As she pulled off her boots, she walked over to the computer console on her desk. She saw that her duty shift for the week had been posted, and she wanted to make sure for herself that her shift was as early as Will claimed it was. She opened up the file and learned that she was to be on the bridge at Ops at 0800 hours. Dani looked at the chronometer. It was 0145 hours now.

"Great," she mumbled, shedding her dress uniform and sliding into her bed. She immediately drifted off to sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"Bridge to Lt. Janeway. Lt. Janeway, report to the bridge."

Dani rolled over, and her eyelids slowly fluttered open.

"Lt. Janeway, report to the bridge immediately."

Dani blinked a few times and yawned.

"Bridge to Lt. Janeway. Lt. Janeway, come in."

Dani's eyes popped open. "Computer, time."

"The time is 0820 hours," the computer said in a seemingly cheerful tone.

"Shit!" Dani exclaimed as she bolted out of bed. She'd overslept. 'What the hell happened to my alarm?' she thought frantically before coming to the conclusion that she must've forgotten to set it.

"Shit!" she exclaimed again.

"Lt. Janeway, please report!" Will's voice came boomed through her comm badge.

Dani looked to her nightstand. Not there. "Where is it?" she asked aloud. She dropped to her knees and crawled around on the floor looking for her badge. She crawled over to her dress uniform top and picked it up. 'Bingo!' she thought. She picked the badge up as another summons from Will was coming through.

"I'm on my way," Dani replied, hurriedly.

Dani was dressed in 15 minutes. As a result of her hasty dress, however, her hair was, simply pinned up, in a condition a little lacking of its usually pristine appearance, and she'd forgone any make-up at all.

In another 15 minutes, it was nearly 0900 hours, and Dani was just walking onto the bridge. When the turbolift doors opened, Dani hesitated a bit before stepping out onto the bridge. All eyes were on her. She looked at Will. He was giving her a highly-peeved gaze, and he wasn't kidding or exaggerating in the least.

As Dani stepped onto the bridge, Will quipped, "Glad you decided to join us, Lt."

"I apologize, Commander," Dani said walking to her station. "It won't happen, again."

"See to it that it doesn't," Will almost yelled. "Man your post."

"Yes, sir," Dani said, sitting down at the Ops station.

"Current operational status, Lt?" Will requested brusquely.

Dani's fingertips danced over the station's console. "All systems functioning within acceptable parameters, sir."

Xxx

During her lunch break, Dani found herself in Ten-Forward, alone at a table near a viewport. She hadn't even been on board 24 hours, and she was already screwing things up. She'd been threatened with court-martial by an admiral the night before, and this morning there had been the whole ordeal with her being late for her very first bridge shift.

Dani looked up from her lunch and saw Will walk by with Deanna, Geordi, and Data. Dani was overcome by an wave of embarrassment. All of them had been present this morning to witness her incident. Dani quickly switched chairs so that her back would be to the newly-arrived group.

Deanna sensed an overwhelming feeling of embarrassment coming from someone in the room. She sat down and scanned the room, curious to discover who the embarrassment was originating from. Her eyes fell on a lone person sitting at a table near a viewport across the room.

"Will," she started, "isn't that Dani?"

Will followed Deanna's gaze to the person she had determined to be the producer of the dismal emotions. His heart sank. He imagined she must feel terrible.

"Excuse me," he said to his lunchmates as he stood and abandoned their table in favor of Dani's. "Hi," he said to Dani. She looked up at him briefly before returning her attention to her cold lunch. Will took the seat across from her.

"Hi," Dani said.

Xxx

Deanna turned her attention to Geordi and Data.

"You don't think Will was too harsh on Dani this morning, do you?" she asked the two of them.

"On the contrary," Data replied.

"You think he was too lenient?" Deanna asked.

"It's hard to say," Geordi contributed. "I'd say she got off a little easily. Anyone else, and he'd probably have been on her case all morning."

"I would have to concur with Geordi's assessment," Data said.

Deanna was surprised to learn this. The last thing she wouldn't thought of Will's treatment of the situation was that he was being lenient.

"I've seen officers get busted down to maintenence duty for tardiness before," Geordi commented, taking a sip from his beverage.

Deanna comtemplated this for a moment. "You're saying Will went easier on Dani than he would have on other officers."

"I don't think he did it on purpose," Geordi said, "but I do think he was a little easy on her."

Xxx

"What happened to you this morning?" Will was asking Dani.

"I forgot to set my alarm last night, I suppose," Dani said. "Either that, or it's malfunctioning. I don't know. Whatever it was, I overslept. I'm sorry."

"It happens to just about everyone at least once during their career," Will said, attempting to comfort her. "At least the captain wasn't on the bridge at the time."

"Yeah, I know. I don't even want to imagine that scenario." Dani continued to ponder her cold slice of pizza. "I'm such a screw-up. You were way too easy on me."

"Nonsense. I would have done the same for any officer who's late for his shift," Will insisted. "Besides, there are people on this ship who have screwed up much worse than you have, believe me. Remember when Reg Barclay was serving aboard the Enterprise?"

Dani smiled and said, "Of course. There was that time when I was onboard and he had that holodeck addiction."

"Exactly. And he was always late for his shifts."

"Yeah. Not to put Reg down or anything, but I don't want to be compared to him."

"You wouldn't want to be compared to a person who helps bring long, lost star ships back from the Delta Quadrant?" Will asked, turning the tables.

Dani looked at Will. He did have a point. If it hadn't been for Barclay, Voyager wouldn't have established communication with Starfleet when they had. "I guess you never really know what people are capable of," she said.

"No, you don't. But I like to think I know what you are capable of."

"Well, if today so far is anything to go on, that isn't not much."

"You've had a rough morning; that's all."

"I guess."

"You've got to learn the ropes of a starship again. It's a lot different than being on a station."

Dani nodded and sighed. "I guess."

"I'm really excited to have you onboard," Will said, his tone softening. "I've missed you so much."

"I've missed you, too, Will." Dani looked into Will's clear blue eyes and smiled for the first time that day. When she noticed a group of her peers walk by and give her less than friendly looks, however, her smile disappeared.

Will noticed her change in demeanor immediately. "What's the matter?" he asked.

"I'm getting this vibe that the other junior officers don't really like me," Dani admitted.

"How could you know that? You haven't even been onboard two days."

"I know. It's small stuff. Looks in the corridor, remarks behind my back that they think I don't hear."

Will thought this would be the perfect time to bring up the conversation he'd had with Deanna before Dani had boarded. "Dani, yesterday, Deanna told me she'd been receiving reports from people who were worried about you," he revealed.

"Why would they be worried about me?" Dani asked.

"They're questioning your loyalty to Starfleet."

Dani laughed resentfully. "Just like the admiralty, huh?"

"They're also worried about you receiving special treatment from the command staff."

Dani shook her head and let out another little laugh. "It's like being back at the Academy again. I can't get away from it."

"I'm going to meet with the department heads today to remind them of a few...policies."

"About special treatment," Dani surmised.

"Yes," Will admitted. "We don't want to give anyone an excuse to make your life aboard the Enterprise more difficult."

Dani nodded. She understood perfectly. "Thanks."

"I've got to get back early for my meeting with the department heads. I'll see you back on the bridge a little later." Dani nodded. "Don't be late this time," Will added with a smile.

"I won't," Dani said, adding a little smile of her own.

As Will stood there looking down at Dani, he contemplated whether or not he should kiss her. Would it make things more difficult for her if he did? Would she care if it did? As he gazed at her, he realized that he was going to kiss her, regardless of what everyone else thought. He bent down and briefly pressed his lips against Dani's. "I love you," he quickly whispered into her ear.

When Will stood upright again, both he and Dani realized that some of the people in the room were staring. Among them were the group Will had walked in with and the group of junior officers who'd walked past Dani's table with less-than-enthusiastic glares.

"I'll see you on the bridge," Will said to Dani.

"Okay," Dani nodded.

Will gave final glances to his group and the group of junior officers as well. They all returned their attention to the conversations at their respective tables as Will left Ten-Forward.

Xxx

Nearby, the small group of junior officers sat across the room, watching with disdain as the ship's first officer interacted intimately with a mere junior officer.

"There's got to be some kind of protocol against that," Ensign Eric Clements said to his peers at the table. "Officers shouldn't be allowed to go around seducing their commanding officers that way."

Ensign Marta Shields nodded in agreement. "She's been working on him for a long time," she said. "They started seeing each other before she even got into the Academy. She's got the one-up on all of us. We were all in the same class, and we're all still ensigns while she's smooching it up with the first officer and is on a first-name basis with the senior staff."

"One bar of gold pressed latinum says she'll reach full lieutenant before six months," Clements wagered.

"I'll second that," Marta said.

"Well, we can't all bet for the same thing," Clements joked. "Wouldn't be a real bet then." He chuckled.

"We don't know what's going on in her or the commander's lives," Ensign Paul Milsap said, speaking up for the first time during the conversation.

"I guess we know who his bet's for," Clements said.

"I just don't think it's fair, what we're saying about Commander Riker and Janeway," Paul said.

"Oh, jeez!" Clements exclaimed.

"What?" Paul asked innocently.

"Don't give me that crap."

"What?" Paul pressed. What was he saying that was so wrong?

"She's a spoiled brat, and that's all there is to it," Clements concluded. "It's people like her, the people who haven't pulled their own weight, who are dragging Starfleet down." He took a final sip from his drink and stood. "I haven't even mentioned that whole business with that spoonhead."

"Yeah," Marta said, standing as well. "She's probably a spy."

"Let's go. Don't want to be late," Clements said.

"Yeah. With her onboard, we don't need to do anything that 's going to make her look better than she already looks in the eyes of the senior staffers," Marta added.

Paul looked up at his two friends. He didn't agree with them that Dani Janeway was simply a spoiled 'Fleet brat, and that was it. There had to be more to her than that. After all, she had made it through the Academy and command school.

He stood and walked out of Ten-Forward with Eric and Marta. Paul didn't care who she was, he'd never believe that those Academy instructors would simply pass Janeway because of who she was. It wasn't likely at Starfleet Academy, and it was sure as hell impossible in the Command School sequence. In fact, they'd probably all given her a harder time because of her familial connections, Paul guessed. Having to constantly prove that she was worthy, Paul figured she was probably a better officer than most of the people walking around this ship.

Xxx

Dani's shift was over at 1600 hours. When she reached her quarters a little after that time, she was surprised to find that her dinner table was set.

"Now, I know I didn't leave my quarters like this when I left this morning," Dani said aloud. When Dani'd rushed out, she'd barely unpacked. Now everything was neatly decorated and in its place as if she'd been living there for years.

"That's right."

Dani looked to her right and realized that it was Will who had spoken to her. He was walking out of Dani's bedroom toward her with a warm smile on his face and a glint in his blue eyes.

"This place was a mess when I first walked in here a few hours ago," Will said.

"You cleaned all this up?" Dani asked

"I sure did," Will said. He kissed Dani gingerly on the lips. "I also have a meal waiting for you."

"Ooh..."

"It's replicated, though. Would've been freshly cooked if I'd gotten off my shift a little earlier." Will led Dani over to the dining area.

"Smells delicious," Dani said as she sat down in the chair will had pulled out for her. She watched as he walked around to the other side of the table and seated himself.

"I know you haven't exactly had the easiest first day," Will said. "I just wanted to do a little something special for you. It isn't much, but I didn't want your first memory of serving aboard the Enterprise to be all bad."

"My day hasn't really been all that bad," Dani said. "No worse than some of my days at the Academy. It's just been a little bumpy is all." She gave Will a reassuring look. "Nothing I can't handle." She looked at the food already on her plate, prepared to be eaten. "So, what do we have here?" she asked, unfolding her napkin and spreading it over her lap. "Steak, brown rice, rolls ..."

"Those are still among your favorites, right?" Will asked. "Or some of them, at least?" It'd been so long since they'd last dined together. He hoped her tastes in food hadn't changed too drastically in three months.

"You're damn right." Dani easily cut into the thick, juicy slab of replicated meat. She stabbed the little square of meat with her fork and raised it to her mouth and chewed it with great ease. "It's so tender," Dani marvelled, chewing.

"I know you like it like that," Will said. He watched her eat, realizing that he wasn't really hungry, himself. He'd spent the time to prepare the meal for two people, but all of a sudden, it occurred to him that he didn't have an appetite for food. He had an appetite for something else.

In a few minutes, Dani had worked her way halfway through the eight-ounce steak.

"I can't eat another bite," she said pushing her plate away from her a little. Will looked slightly alarmed. Dani was usually such a hearty eater. Tonight, she hadn't even finished her steak. She'd barely touched the side dishes.

"Is there something wrong with it?" Will asked.

"Oh, no. It was absolutely intoxicating," She assured him. She stood.

"Well, what's the matter?" Will probed.

"I just don't want to get too full," Dani informed him, walking around the table to join Riker on his side. He followed her stride with his eyes. She walked around the back of his chair, tracing her finger along his shoulder. "I wouldn't want to have to skip desert."

Will looked up at her with sudden panic. He hadn't thought about providing a dessert at all.

"I forgot about dessert," he said sadly.

Dani leaned down so that she was face to face with Will. "I didn't." She traced her finger through his beard.

Will was suddenly made aware. He still recognized that look in her eyes, even if it had been a while since he'd seen it last.

He smiled and asked, "What are we having?"

"It's one of your favorites," Dani purred.

"Oh, really?"

Dani nodded. "Mm-hm." She worked her fingers to the inside of Will's uniform collar and gently pulled. Will obediently stood. Dani led him to her bedroom.

Xxx

"Watch what happens next, son. See how the female seduces the male? Human males are so weak. Especially this one."

"He's such an ape. What does she see in him?"

"That's always been a mystery to me, son. But it seems that women are overwhelmingly attracted to this particular one."

"Maybe human females like ape-like men. Like Aunt Kathy - her husband resembles this male. Only less hairy."

"I see your point."

"Look at this. This is such a primitive, inefficient way of reproducing. I don't see the point of engaging in this sort of act."

"Apparently, reproducing isn't the only reason humans engage in this activity."

"What other reason could there be?"

"Who knows? Why do you think I keep watching them? I'm trying to find out."

Xxx

Will and Dani kissed each other hungrily

"Oh, Dani," Will sighed, "I've been waiting to do this all day."

"You've been planning this all day?" Dani asked.

"No."

"Oh."

"I've been planning it all week."

"Oh!" yelped a delighted Dani, as Will hit a nerve somewhere.

"Let me take a look at you, at what I've been missing."

Xxx

"My, my...Danielle certainly has matured, hasn't she? I can't wait to tell your Aunt Kathy what her daughter's doing."

"Dad..."

"Better yet, why don't I show her?"

"Dad!"

"Just a moment, son. I want you to watch this." A moment later, Admiral Kathryn Janeway appeared. She looked around the room puzzled for a few moments because only a moment ago, she'd been in her office, preparing to leave for the day. She quickly realized what had happened, though.

"What are you doing here?" she inquired. "Where are we? What have you done now?"

"My dear Kathy, it's not what I've done, but what your daughter is about to do."

Kathryn thought for a few seconds. She turned, looked over her shoulder, and saw a naked Will Riker moving toward her equally naked daughter. Once it clicked with Janeway what was going on, she clapped her hand over her eyes and quickly turned back around.

"Why are you showing me this?" she asked removing her hand from her eyes. "And why are you showing this to your son?"

"I'm trying to teach him about human interaction."

"I'm sure there are other ways to do this."

"Of course there are. But this way is the best."

"You're invading their privacy. This is an intimate act between two consenting adults. You should not be watching this."

"Well, you don't have to watch if you to want to." Before she could say anything else, Kathryn disappeared in a flash of light.

Xxx

Will and Dani were now wrapped together in the bedsheets, moving together. Will, on top of Dani, kissed her deeply, burying his hands in her long, dark locks.

Xxx

"Why are they making those noises?"

"You know, I always wondered about that. You see, son, from what I've seen, heard, and been told, what they're doing is supposed to feel good."

"Why do they sound like they're in pain, then? And those faces their making - you'd think they're killing each other."

"I don't know. I don't understand it."

Xxx

Will sat up, pulling Dani to him. She sat with her legs on either side of him. They pulled closer to one another as he nuzzled and kissed her ear, her neck, her collar. Dani moaned breathily and writhed on top of Will, each movement and noise she made driving him closer to the edge.

"Oh, Dani. Dani...Dani," he moaned.

Xxx

"Watch what happens, son."

The couple disappeared from the bed and bedroom in a quick flash of light. They reappeared, again in a quick flash of light and still drapped in the bedsheets, on the deck of the bridge, in front of the captain's chair

"Oh, Will," Dani cried in the throes of ecstasy. "Will, Will."

"Dani..." Will murmured.

Dani threw her head back, opened her eyes, and was thoroughly alarmed to find that she was no longer in her bedroom. She was on the bridge, and all eyes, including the captain's, were on her and Will. A yelp of surprise escaped her lips and she clung to Will even more.

"Oh, yeah, sweetheart," Will said, totally unaware of the fact that his and Dani's intimate act of love was being witnessed by the entire bridge crew of the Beta shift.

"Will," Dani whispered into Will's ear.

"Dani..." Will murmured.

"Will," Dani said a little more forcefully.

"Oh, Dani," Will said.

"Will!" Dani exclaimed.

"Yeah..."

"Ahem." Captain Picard stepped away from his chair and toward the couple on the deck. Will immediately ceased kissing Dani and opened his eyes. When he did that, he realized, just as Dani had, that they had somehow ended up on the bridge.

"What the hell..." Will muttered, instinctively pulling Dani closer to him. "What is this?"

Everyone turned his head at the sound of clapping. What they found was Q walking around to the front of the bridge.

"Very good, Commander," Q said. "Very good show."

"Q!" Will hissed. He and Dani struggled to rise together while remaining wrapped in the bedsheet. They were finally successful and able to stand.

"Q!" Picard began, "What the devil do you think you're doing?!"

"Nothing, Mon Capitan," Q said innocently. "Just giving my boy a little lesson in human interaction."

"Q, what are you talking about?" Picard asked.

"Q's here?" Dani asked. Q snapped his fingers, and his son appeared. "Q!"

"Hello, cousin," the younger Q greeted cheerily. "You're looking well."

"Q, what is going on?" Dani demanded.

"Nothing," the two Qs said in unison.

Picard was confused and was quickly losing his patience. "Q, I want you and your Q friend here off my bridge, and I want my officers back in their own clothes this instant!"

"Temper, temper, mon Capitan," Q warned playfully. "I just wanted to take the opportunity to introduce you to my son."

"Your son?" Deanna asked, taking a step forward.

"Yes. Everyone, this is my son - Q. Q, meet everyone."

"Well, well, Q, it seems you've been busy since we last met," Picard dead- panned. "And he's a spitting image of his father. Now get off my ship."

"This is all good and well, but it doesn't explain why I'm standing in the middle of the bridge wearing nothing but a bedsheet," Will said, obviously growing madder by the minute.

"My, my, you are dull," Q-senior said. "Obviously, you can't do what you two were doing with your clothes on. But that's beside the point. I'm teaching young Q, here, about the nature of human relationships. You and Dani were the perfect example. Simply put, you were in the right place at the right time."

Dani's eyes grew wide. "You spied on us?" She looked from one Q to the other. "How dare you!" At this point, she was ready to pounce on them, the sheets be damned. If Will hadn't placed a calming hand on her arm, she would have.

"She's obviously inherited her mother's temper," Q whispered to his son.

"Q," Dani said, addressing the younger Q, "put us back in my quarters NOW!"

"Oh, all right," Q agreed reluctantly. He snapped his fingers, and Will and Dani disappeared from the bridge in two flashes of light and reappeared in her bedroom in her quarters.

"I can't believe that little creep," Dani said, dropping the bedsheet and moving to get dressed. "Spying on us!"

"I've never been more embarrassed in my life," Will said.

"People are going to be talking about this for weeks," Dani said. "I don't know how I'm ever going to look anyone on this ship in the eye again. The nerve of him! Invading our space and our time like that. I never thought Q - the younger one - would be capable of anything like this. I thought he'd learned his lesson when he was onboard Voyager."

"I suppose we can't blame him as the sole party responsible," Will pointed out, also dressing. He pulled on his pants. "This was Q's idea - the older one. He did bring his son here."

"I know." She pulled on the different layers of her uniform's top portion. "That doesn't make it any less traumatic, though." She plopped down on the bed and, with an exasperated sigh, dropped her head in her hands. "This is not what I need right now. I do not need this now." Before she could stop them, tears were welling up in her eyes and falling down her cheeks. Will sat down beside her. "I'm never going to live this down, Will. I don't know what to do. If it isn't one thing, it's going to be another. People are never going to leave me alone."

Will put his arms around Dani, and she leaned into him. "I'm not going to be able to do this. No one's ever going to accept me for me. They're always going to see me as one thing or another that's not me."

"I know this doesn't make things any better," Will said. "I know it has the potential to make things a lot worse, actually. But you can't give up. You're strong, a fighter. You made it through the Delta Quadrant, Academy, Command School. I know you're not going to let a few obstacles stop you. You know I'll be here for you to help you. But you can't give up. This is the stuff that's going to make you even stronger than you already are. It's supposed to be tough."

"I know, but I don't think I'm cut out for this. I can't handle it."

"You know, everyone goes through rough times in their lives, and there are plenty of people who simply give up before they even start to fight. It's the greats who come through those hard times without folding. You are one of the great ones, Dani."

"No."

"Yes, you are."

"NO!" Dani got up and walked away from the bed. "No, I'm not. Everyone just thinks I'm supposed to be because who my grandfather was, and because of who my parents are, and because you are. But I'm not. I'm not! And I don't want to be."

"Dani-"

Dani shook her head and looked out the viewport. "I'm just going to end up being this big disappointment to everybody." She looked down at her feet. "What if what everyone's saying is right? What if I'm not making it on my own merits?"

Will stood. "How could you say that?" Will asked walking over to Dani. "After all the hell Nimembeh put you through? After Command School? Come on, Dani. You know that's not true. You're letting them inside your head. They don't know you. They're going on assumptions. Part of your job is to prove those assumptions wrong. The only way to do that is to keep being the officer I know you are. Alright?" Dani nodded. "I'm surprised at you, wanting to give up like that." He gently lifted her chin with his fingers. "It isn't like you." He walked over to the bed and picked up the red tunic of his uniform.

"Q with a son," Will mused. He sat down on the bed and began to pull on his socks and shoes. "I never would have dreamed it."

"Neither would I - until I actually saw the baby." Dani walked over to Will. "You know, he wanted my mother to be the mother of his child."

Will looked up at Dani, obviously unaware of this little tidbit of information. "You're kidding," he said.

"No. He gave up when he realized my mother would never concede. He convinced a female Q to mate with him and, well, the result is standing on the bridge. He named my mother the baby's godmother."

"And you're his 'cousin'."

"Exactly."

"I understand now."

"And then, when he was older, his father dropped him off on Voyager so that he could learn a little something about maturity. Seems he was a little too wild for Q." This earned another surprised look from Will. Dani continued. "He wreaked havoc on the ship before my mother brought him back down. And now he's back."

"What does he want now?"

"Q said he wanted to teach him about human interaction," Dani reminded Will.

"I know," Will said. "But if the first thing that involves is spying on us and placing us in a compromising position on the bridge, I'm a little wary of what more this little lesson could involve."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Captain Picard sat at the head of the table in the observation lounge with his senior staff seated around him. Dani and both of the Qs were also present.

"Absolutely not," Picard said staunchly. "I refuse to let my ship be used as some sort of playground for the Q."

"Picard, be reasonable," the elder Q said in his gently pleading tone. "All I'm attempting to do is instill my son with as comprehensive a look at humanity as possible. I want him to get as accurate a look at humans as he can. Is that so wrong?"

Will cast a wary glance at the captain.

"But why this ship?" Picard asked.

"Mon Capitan," Q elder began again, "you, among all people, should recognize that each ship, each crew, is unique. One cannot be expected to generate a fair concept of humanity after only experiencing life aboard one ship - a ship that, might I add, was thousands of light years away from home. You must agree that Enterprise's situation and the large size of her crew makes her much more ideal for studying interactions between people."

"He does have a point there, sir," Geordi admitted.

Picard looked around at his staff and mentally turned over the prospect of actually allowing a Q onboard. He leaned back in his seat and tugged at his uniform tunic. "Just how long would this lesson in humanity take?"

"One week," Q replied quickly.

Picard thought it over. There was no telling what kind of trickery Q was up to. This could be some elaborate ruse, which it more than likely was. He looked at Dani. He also had to consider what had happened on Voyager. That time, Q had been sincere in his intentions, and Voyager had come out with little more than a few frazzled nerves. Q could be telling the truth. Thinking back, Picard remembered that there had been a few instances when Q had been sincere, and everyone had benefited from his presence.

Picard leaned forward, resting his forearms on the table as he made his decision. "My ship will, under no circumstances, be turned into a circus," Picard directed to Q.

"Q will not have his powers while onboard," Q senior assured. "I give you my word." Picard shot Q a dismal look.

"Captain, you won't regret this," Q2 said cheerfully. "I promise."

"Let's hope you're right," Picard said.

"Wonderful!" Q exclaimed. "Now, if you'll all excuse me, I've got some errands to run. Good day, everyone. Son, I'll see you in a week."

"Wait - Q!" Picard began, but he was too late. Before the words were even out of his mouth, Q was gone in his customary flash of light.

"So," Q2 said, beaming, "where do I sleep?"

xxx

"Cousin, I'm so glad we have this opportunity to see each other again," Q said. He and Dani were walking to the guest quarters he'd been assigned to for the duration of his stay on the Enterprise.

"I don't know if I can say the same, Q," Dani said. "I'm still really peeved about you and your father peeping on me and Will.

"Hey, it was my father's idea," Q explained. "I didn't know he was going to bring me here, and I didn't know he was going to spy on you. Besides, he doesn't see it as spying. He even brought your mother-"

"My mother?!" Dani stopped walking and glared at Q. "Do not tell me my mother was in that room, Q. Don't tell me she saw me and Will...together."

"Well, she did," Q said.

"Oh, my gods," Dani said, resuming her walk to Q's guest quarters. "You brought my mother to spy on me."

"No. I didn't bring her here, my father did," Q corrected. "Plus, I already told you, he doesn't see it as spying."

"I know. To him, it's an 'educational experience'," Dani said, repeating the elder Q's excuse. "That still doesn't make it right." Dani and Q stopped walking in front of a set of doors. "This is it," she said. She entered a code on the key pad next to the door, which released the locking mechanism and allowed them entry. The doors slid open, and Dani and Q walked in.

"Will this do?" Dani asked.

"I suppose it'll have to," Q said. "I'll have to get used to sleeping again. Without my powers, I'm subject to the limitations of humanity."

"Poor you," Dani dead-panned.

"It's not all bad, though. It means I get to try this sex thing all you humans are raving about."

Dani regarded Q like a child who didn't know what he was getting himself into. He was obviously eager to learn more about the subject of sex, but Dani knew he hadn't the first inkling of what it was really all about.

"Q," she began, "there's a lot you don't know about sex." This was becoming a little awkward for Dani. She felt like she was talking to the little brother she never had, trying to educate him about the ways of the universe. In reality, this "little brother" had probably seen more and done more than she would ever dream of. She continued. "It's not like something as simple as eating or sleeping. It can get complicated."

"You can teach me," Q said eagerly, stepping to Dani.

"Whoa," she said taking a step back.

"What's the matter?"

"I can't teach you what you want to know."

"Why not? You did it with Commander Riker, and he's almost an ape. I'm sure you and I would be more than compatible."

Dani sighed. Q's father had obviously been influencing Q's opinions of Will, but she let it slide. "Q," she said, leading him to the couch. They sat. "A lot of times two people who have sex are in a relationship with each other. Most times, in this relationship, the two people involved sort of mutually agree to only have sex with each other and nobody else while they're a couple. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

Q looked thoughtful for a moment. "So, you're saying we can't have sex because you and Commander Riker are a couple."

"Right." Dani was beginning to think that explaining this might not be so difficult after all. This was a Q she was talking to. The Q aren't exactly what one would call dunces.

"Well, are there people who aren't couples who have sex?" Q asked.

"Yes..."

"Are there some couples who aren't exclusive to one another?"

Dani could see where this was headed. "Some," Dani admitted slowly, "but it's not exactly looked upon as being a good thing. It's actually kind of bad. It's really bad, depending on who you talk to. It's called cheating."

"Cheating?" Q asked. "I wasn't aware this was some sort of game."

"It isn't. It's just a word that people decided could be used in more than one context. It fits the situation. If it's been agreed upon that you're only supposed to be with one partner, and you have two, it's wrong."

"Oh. Well, it seems to me that if both parties want to stray, it shouldn't be considered cheating," Q countered.

Dani sighed. "In some cases it's not. But that's kind of rare. There are a few cases, though, such as the one in your example. I told you this could get complicated."

"Right, which is why we should have just gone with my first suggestion." Q moved in to steal a kiss from Dani, who immediately rose and walked to the other side of the room.

"No, Q, I'm not going to be your partner," she said sternly. "Why can't you just do this with one of the females from the Continuum?"

Q sat back on the sofa and thought for a moment. "I've never thought about that. Maybe..."

"Good." Dani was relieved. She only hoped that Q was going to give this sex thing a rest for good - at least for the duration of his time aboard the Enterprise. "Are you hungry?" she asked him. Dani's stomach was reminding her that she hadn't finished her dinner and that it might be a good idea to get something to eat.

Q had to contemplate for a minute on whether he was hungry or not. "I think I am," was his answer to Dani's inquiry. "My stomach is rumbling."

"You're hungry. Come on - I'll show you to Ten-Forward so we can catch a late dinner. I didn't eat much the first time I had dinner today."

"I know," Q quipped.

Xxx

Dani and Q walked into Ten-Forward at about 2100 hours. It wasn't too crowded, but there were a good number of people in the room. Dani spotted Will sitting at a table with Deanna. Dani and Q walked over to the two.

"Mind if we join you?" Dani asked.

Will looked up. A little smile spread through his beard. "Not at all," he said. "Please do." Dani sat down next to Will, Q next to Deanna.

"Q, this is Counselor Deanna Troi and Commander Will Riker," Dani introduced. "Will, Deanna - Q."

"Well, it's nice to have been formally introduced," Will said, hinting at the evening's earlier incident with a bit of obvious displeasure.

"Nice to meet you, Q," Deanna said with a warm, friendly smile. "How do you like your quarters?"

"It's going to take some getting use to," Q said. "I don't usually sleep."

"Well, then this should be quite and experience for you."

"I'm hoping it will be." Q studied the woman who'd been introduced to him as Troi. She was quite attractive, by human standards, and she was very polite.

A waiter walked over to the table and took Will and Dani's orders.

"What would you like, sir?" the waiter asked Q. Q looked from Will to Deanna to Dani. "What should I get?" he asked them.

"Hmm..." Dani searched her mind, trying to think of the perfect meal choice for a Q. It wasn't often that she had to pick out a meal for someone who probably hadn't eaten in years. It was a more daunting task than would be initially thought. "Well, pasta's always a good choice. How about a plate of fettucini alfredo?"

"You're the ones who do this everyday, so, whatever you say," Q said. He looked up at the waiter. "What she said." The waiter nodded and walked off to retrieve their meals.

"One of the joys of being human is eating," Deanna commented. "Given the choice between eating and receiving all my nutrition via other faster, more efficient methods, I 'd choose eating any day."

"I agree," Will said. "Although, for me, preparing the meal is also a big part of the draw."

"Replicating it?" Q asked.

"Cooking it," Will clarified.

"Cooking? I always thought that was considered a primitive waste of time among humans."

"For some, it is," Dani said, "but those are the ones who've never had a real home - cooked meal before. Ask anyone whose ever had real fruit and replicated fruit which is better. The real fruit wins everytime, hands down."

Will added, "The replicator's a nice convenience, but nothing beats the real thing."

The waiter returned with the table's orders. He placed an omlette in front of Will, a bowl of vegetable beef soup in front of Dani, a plate of fettucini alfredo in front of Q, and an ice cream sundae with chocolate sauce in front of Deanna.

Q looked curiously at the plate of pasta before him.

"Go ahead-" Dani urged, "-dig in."

Q awkwardly picked up his fork. "It's been a while since I've done this," he said. He turned to Dani. "What if I don't like it?"

"It's no big deal," Dani assured him. "If you don't like it, we'll just have the waiter take it away, and he'll put it in the recycler. No love lost there." She gave Q an encouraging smile. "But you'll never know if you like it or not until you try it."

Q looked back down at the pile of sauce-covered pasta. He timidly immersed his fork in it and brought it out covered in the stuff. He opened his mouth, shoved the pasta-loaded fork in, and chewed. He realized that, although the food had a slimy texture, it was quite good. It didn't require much chewing at all and was very easy to eat. He looked at his table mates to find that they were all staring at him in anticipation, as if they'd themselves cooked the meal and were now awaiting his approval.

"This is absolutely..." Q had to search for the right word. He wasn't quite sure how to describe this sensation. Then it came to him. "...Delicious."

Deanna, Will, and Dani smiled and looked at one another. Now, they could commence with eating their own meals. Will cut a square out of his omlette and shoved it into his mouth. Dani sampled a spoonful of her soup. And Deanna scooped a spoonful of her sundae into her mouth.

"So, Counselor," Q said, his mouth full of pasta, "have you ever had sex?"

Will choked on his omlette. Dani nearly spit out her soup. Deanna seemed to retain her composure. She calmly swallowed the spoonful of sundae that'd been on her tongue. "That's an interesting question, Q," she said.

Dani and Will looked at each other. They both felt like parents whose child had just said something he wasn't supposed to say.

Xxx

"I can't believe he asked her that," Dani said. "I mean, we'd just finished discussing how it's an intimate act between two people. I thought it was over. I'm so embarrassed."

"Why should you be embarrassed?" Will asked. The two were back in her quarters. It was approximately 2230 hours the same night.

"Because..." Dani began, but found that she couldn't spit out an answer. Why was she embarrassed by Q's actions and words? She chuckled and sat down on the couch. "I don't know. I don't have any logical reason to be embarrassed by Q. We're not related, not biologically, anyway. I didn't bring him onboard. I'm not responsible for him while he's here. I'm not his caretaker."

Will sat down beside Dani on the couch. "Look, it probably has something to do with the fact that you met Q before anyone else here did. You're probably feeling like you're responsible for his being here, which is completely absurd. Besides, and I can't even believe I'm saying this, maybe Q is only here to learn about human relationships. There's no guarantee that he's going to cause any trouble."

"Yeah," Dani acquiesced. "Maybe I'm just jumping to conclusions." She turned to Will. "Are you the assistant counselor or something? When did you start handing out consolation like that?"

Will shrugged. "Tonight," he said.

Dani sighed. "What a first day," she said, leaning back. "I don't think I've ever had a first day with this much activity."

"Me either." He leaned back and rested on the sofa as well. "It wasn't all bad, though." He looked at Dani. "Was it? I seem to remember that right before this whole Q mess started, we were having quite a good time." He smiled.

"Yes, it was okay," Dani said dismissively.

Will's expression fell. "Just okay?"

"There's something else I didn't tell you about our run-in with Q," Dani said, ignoring Will's question.

"What more could there possibly be?"

"Q wants to experience life," Dani said.

Will regarded her quizzically. "He has been relieved of his powers. I don't know how much closer to human he could get."

Dani sighed. Will didn't understand. Dani would have to do a little explaining on this subject. "He wants to experience all the aspects of life." She looked into Will's face, but only saw more confusion. She sighed and finally said, "He wants to have sex with someone. That's why he asked Deanna what he did. He would have asked her to be his partner if I hadn't told him he was tired."

"Oh, great," Will sighed. "Just what we need-a horny Q onboard." He rested his forehead in his hand. He could feel a headache forming at the prospect of having to deal with the ramifications of Q sewing his wild oats with the female crew. "I'm just glad he didn't have enough experience at being human, yet, to know that he wasn't really tired."

"He wanted me to be his partner," Dani revealed.

Will looked at Dani, surprise written all over his face. "You said no, didn't you?" he asked.

"Of course I did. Do you know how weird that would be? He's supposed to be my cousin. Even if it isn't by blood, it's still..." Dani shivered. "Besides, mating with the Q is not exactly high on my list of things to do."

"Good thing I'm not a Q," Will said, his mood becoming more serene.

Dani looked at him. "It sure is," she said moving closer to him. "Because I would never do this to a Q." She kissed him on one cheek. "Or this." She kissed him on the other cheek. "Or this." She delivered a generous kiss to his lips. "Or this..." she said, as she began to unzip the front of his uniform.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Dani awoke the next morning in Will's arms. The alarm that had ripped her from her peaceful slumber was still blaring. "Computer, alarm off," she said groggily. The alarm ceased and the room was blanketed in silence. "Computer, time."

"The time is 0700 hours, two minutes, 24 seconds," the computer chimed.

Dani sighed. "Will," she said. "Will?" Will groaned. "Will, it's time to get up," Dani said in a sing-song voice.

"No reminder needed, thanks," he said, struggling to open his eyes.

Dani sat up and looked over her shoulder at a yawning Will. He rubbed his eyes and blinked a few times to clear his vision. Slightly dazed blue eyes stared up at Dani as she leaned over and kissed their owner.

"Mm..." Will moaned. He wrapped his arms around Dani's waist and pulled her closer. "We've got time for just a quick one, don't we?" he asked.

"No, no, no," Dani said, pulling away from Will. "Time is ticking." She snorted. "I would've never thought I would ever be more concerned about the time than you are." She sat up. "I've got to go shower." She swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood.

"Mind if I join you?" Will asked, rising to a reclining position on the bed.

Dani pretended to ponder over the decision. "Hmm...it would save time." She looked at him. He was so cute when he woke up in the morning. His hair was disheveled, sticking out every which way, and a slightly sleepy gaze still graced his blue eyes. She realized then just how much she'd truly missed him these last few months.

"Come on," Dani said, inviting Will to join her in the bathroom. Will smiled and didn't waste any time in following. As he was following her, he noticed the little triangular mark on her lower back. Her very lower back.

"What is this?" Will asked. "I've never seen it before." He hadn't noticed it last night or any other time before that.

"What?" Dani asked, as she turned on the sonic shower.

"This," Will said touching the little design at the base of her back.

Dani looked over her shoulder and down at the spot Will's finger was touching. "Oh. It's just a tattoo."

"A tattoo?" Will repeated. Was she trying to be funny? "I can see that," he said. "What is it of?"

Dani turned and faced Will. "You have seen it before," she insisted.

Now, Will was downright confused. He'd seen Dani naked about a million times, and he'd never seen that mark on her before.

Dani, deciding to finally put an end to Will's confusion, told him what he wanted to know. "It's the mark of my father's people. It's the same mark that's on my dad's forehead."

His curiosity piqued, Will turned Dani around and kneeled to have a better look at his new discovery. It was the same mark that he'd seen on Chakotay's forehead. He traced it lightly with his finger, causing Dani to giggle a bit. He rose to his feet, and she turned around to face him once again.

"When did this happen?" Will asked.

"The night of the Academy graduation," she replied. "I had a little too much to drink and had a Klingon buddy of mine draw it on for me."

At this confession, Will's eyebrows rose in amusement. A grin instantly appeared on his face. "You? Drunk?"

Dani ignored Will and the turn he was taking with that last comment. She instead turned her attention back to the sonic shower.

"How long has it been since you had a real water shower?" Will asked her as he changed the shower from the sonic setting to water.

Dani leaned back against the vanity and thought. "I don't know," she said. "It's probably been a few years."

Will stepped up to her. "Too long," he said, moving in and kissing her deeply. She gently pulled away from him and stepped into the shower. She held out her hand for him. He took it and joined her inside the little stall. She kissed him again and realized she didn't care where this would lead to.

Will steered her into the stream of falling water droplets. The surprise of the forgotten sensation made her yelp.

"Don't worry," Will said, smiling. "Water doesn't bite. But I do." Dani smiled. The sensation of the water on her skin had a therapeutic effect, and it was evident by the relaxed expression on her face. "This is why I prefer water showers," Will said.

Dani smiled again and played with the dark, damp hair on his head. "There's no cleansing agent," she observed. "You have to provide your own soap, don't you?"

"You could do that," Will said. "Or you could just tell the computer to add it for you. Computer, add cleansing agent number 33 to the water, please." The computer chirped as it complied.

"I didn't know you could do that," Dani said, with wonder. Almost immediately, she began to notice a difference in the texture of the water. It became more like an oil. A sweet citrus scent invaded her nostrils as she looked down at the floor of the shower and saw that a slightly foamy lather had formed.

"Is that better?" Will asked.

Xxx

When Will and Dani went on duty at 0800 hours, the Enterprise had arrived at Garessa II, a large, uninhabited M-class planet. The Enterprise was currently on a survey mission of recently charted star systems. The away teams' assignments were of a variable nature, from simple science surveys of the mineral and metallurgic make-up of the planets to tactical surveys of the layout of the planets and their possible uses as Federation bases or colonies. Garessa II was one of these survey planets.

"Will, I think it's an honor to be sitting in on the senior staff mission briefing," Dani said. She and Will were on their way to the observation lounge. "But I don't understand my purpose for being present."

"All I know is that the captain wants you there, so you will be," Will said.

They both walked through the doors of the observation lounge. Will took his customary seat in the chair beside the captain, who was always at the head of the table.

Captain Picard sniffed. The air around him had taken on a mildly fruity flavor just as Will had sat down. Picard looked at his Number One. "Is that a new cologne, Number One?" he asked.

Will froze. He'd already forgotten about that aspect of the shower he'd shared with Dani earlier that morning. Next time, he'd have to pay more attention to the scent of the soap before he chose it. He looked at the captain, intending to reply to his question, but he found that Picard's attention was already on something else.

Dani took a seat much further down the table. As she sat, she pondered over why she was in on this mission briefing while no other junior officers were.

"Goodmorning, everyone," Picard began. "As you all know..." As the captain began to explain the purpose of the mission, the methods, etc., Will allowed his mind to wonder back to the bliss of the morning he'd shared with Dani. Her body was incredible. Those long legs...he was getting excited just thinking about them.

"...Commander?" Picard waited for Will to reply. When he didn't, Picard called his name again. "Commander?" This brought Will out of his reverie.

"Sorry, Captain," he said. "My mind was...somewhere else."

"Let's try to remain here and in the present, please, Commander," Picard said, a little annoyed.

"Yes, sir. Sorry, sir." Will stole a glance at Dani. She smiled and lowered her head.

"Now, I was just saying that the away teams will be organized into groups of ten," Picard said.

"That's right," Will said. "The first two groups of ten will be the science teams. Tactical teams will follow, and after that, medical."

"Each group will also be accompanied by a security team," Picard added. His eyes scanned the faces staring back at him. He stopped at Dani's brown eyes. "Which brings me to you, Lt." Everyone turned to look at her. "I know you're wondering why you were summoned to take part in this briefing, Lt." Picard said.

"Yes, sir. It had crossed my mind," Dani said honestly.

"Lt. Janeway, your sole purpose on this mission will be to accompany Q to the surface." Picard could see the puzzled, surprised, and wary looks on the faces of his officers. "If Q really is here to observe what being human is all about, I believe this would be an extremely valuable opportunity for him to observe human interactions within teams. Teamwork is the key word here." He watched the concept sink in with his crew. He directed his attention back at Dani. "You are to be with him at all times. Understood?"

"Yes, Captain," Dani said. She was more than just slightly perturbed. She hadn't transferred to the Enterprise to babysit. That was her job for this mission, as she saw it. She was to babysit Q. And she wasn't responsible for Q, she thought sarcastically, her mind going back to the conversation she and Will had had the night before. She looked down the table at him. He was smiling.

"Now," the captain said, "everyone has his orders. Make it so, everyone. Dismissed."

Everyone stood and began to file out of the room. "Lt. Janeway, a moment, if you would, please?" Picard requested. Dani stopped and turned to face the captain. Will, who'd been on his way out, also stopped and looked at the captain. He looked at Dani again before walking out of the room, leaving her with Picard.

"Yes, Captain?" Dani said.

"Dani," Picard said, taking a few steps toward her, "I know this isn't exactly the assignment you'd like to be given, but you're the one whom I believe best-suited for the task at hand."

"I understand, Captain," Dani said.

"I just think Q will be more likely to listen to you than anyone else aboard."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"I thank you for doing this, Lt."

Dani nodded. "You're welcome, Captain.

"Dismissed."

Dani turned and walked out of the observation lounge. Will was waiting outside the door. Before he could say anything, she spoke. "Don't say anything," she said, sternly.

In the observation lounge, Picard noticed that after Dani left, there remained the scent of citrus fruit. He sniffed. Yes, that was it. Orange or tangerine, it smelled like. He wondered what this new-found affinity for fruit-scented colognes and perfumes was. First, Number One, then Dani. Who was next? Data?

Xxx

The first away team materialized on the planet's surface amid conditions akin to those in paradise. Dani looked around. The temperature was perfect, and the sky was blue. If she hadn't known that this was going to be a survey mission, she'd have mistaken the planet for a shoreleave planet. It was beautiful there.

"All right, people, let's get to work," Will announced. "Standard away team procedures. No one goes anywhere alone." The officers fanned out and began to conduct their surveys.

Will tapped his comm badge. "Enterprise, this is Riker. We're ready for the second team down here whenever you're ready to transport."

"Aye, Commander," came the tinny voice through Will's communicator. "Stand by."

Dani and Q left Will and started walking toward one of the survey team pairs. The team had already ventured a good distance away, so Q and Dani, at the leisurely pace they were traveling, had a little walk ahead of them.

"This is so humiliating," Q said.

"What?" Dani asked.

"I don't need a babysitter," Q said defiantly.

"You think I wanted this assignment?" Dani asked Q. "Believe me, this is not my dream job. I'd much rather be performing some of these surveys. But an order is an order, and I intend to follow it to a tee."

"Why? If you don't want to do it, don't do it."

"Q, there are certain things you're going to have to learn about our society. I thought you'd already learned them from your time aboard Voyager, but apparently, you've forgotten them. Sometimes, you have to do things you don't necessarily want to. You do them because there's a bigger picture, and because it's probably the right thing to do. You don't disobey orders. Especially from the captain. So, here I am. Stuck with you." The euphoric feeling Dani had first experienced after beaming down to the beautiful planet was quickly dissipating with the presence of her charge, Q.

"Well, thank you for making me feel so welcome," Q said flatly. "I'm honored."

"No," Dani said apologetically. She was being mean to Q, and this situation wasn't even his fault. He was just as innocent as she was. "I'm sorry. It's not your fault you're here - it's your father's fault."

The two walked over and joined a team that consisted of Ensign Paul Milsap and Lt. Nina Carter. Milsap and Carter looked up from their work at the new arrivals.

"Don't mind us," Dani said politely. "We're just observing - if that's all right."

"Of course it is, Lt," Carter said politely.

Meanwhile, Ensigns Eric Clements and Marta Shields were a few paces away taking soil and plant samples.

"Is there no end to it?" Clements asked. "It isn't enough that she's in good with half of Starfleet's hierarchy. No. She's got to be in good with the Q, too. Who knows what kind of predicament she's put us in, bringing Q's son here? It's only her second day, and already, I can't stand her."

"Well, you can take comfort in the fact that she doesn't have all of Starfleet in the palm of her hand," Shields said.

Clements looked at her. "What do you mean?"

"There's a rumor going around that Nechayev was this close to court-martialing her during that whole mess with Dukat," Shields said, holding up her index finger and thumb.

"That's my whole point, though," Clements said. "The only reason Nechayev didn't go ahead and court-martial her was because she's Dani Janeway. If it'd been anyone else, they would have been gone. If not that, they damn well wouldn't be serving as a bridge officer on the 'Fleet's flagship. You know I'm telling the truth."

"Yeah. Well, she will have to prove herself at some point," Shields said. "She won't make it far on her connections alone. If she is all she's cracked up to be, only time will tell."

Xxx

An hour later, all the survey teams were down on the surface. There were about 40 people total on the surface taking surveys on the different physical aspects of the planet. Dani and Q had managed to visit at least one two-person team for each survey group, and in many circumstances, they had made it to more than one team.

"I still don't see the purpose in all of this," Q said. "Why come down here and physically take samples when you've got the Enterprise and the ability to do all this from the ship? From where I'm sitting, this just looks like a big waste of time."

"Well, it's not," Dani said. "Believe me. Yes, we could do this all from the ship, but we get much better information if we do it first-hand. You get to see it with your own eyes and touch with your own hands, instead of letting sensors and transporters see and do for you." She looked at Q. He still wasn't getting it. "The point is teamwork. You're supposed to be observing how people work together and what makes a team successful." She looked up in time to see Will walking toward them.

"There's a system coming this way," he said.

"A bad one?" Dani asked.

"The Enterprise sensors indicate that it's only a line showers at this point, but it has the potential to develop into something more serious," Will explained. "The captain has ordered that we return to the ship."

Dani nodded. She looked past Will at the first group of ten as they assembled and awaited transport. Will's comm badge chirped. "Enterprise to Riker."

"Riker here," Will said.

"Stand by for transport," the transporter technician's voice came through Will's communicator.

"Standing by. Riker out." He turned and watched as the first group of ten dematerialized. He turned back to Dani and Q. "You'll be transporting with the last group."

Dani nodded. She saw the next team assemble for transport. After a few moments, the group dematerialized in the transporter stream.

"Observe anything interesting today?" Riker asked. He smiled at her. A few paces away, the third group of ten assembled for transport. A few seconds later, they disappeared from the planet's surface.

Dani returned Riker's smile. "Not lately," she said. "But this morning...well, that's a different story." Riker's smile broadened as he, along with Dani, Q, and the members of the last team assembled for their turn to transport. He tapped his comm badge. "Enterprise, this is Riker. The last team is ready for transport."

"Stand by, Commander," the transporter tech replied. A moment later, the transport process began, and Dani began to feel the familiar tingling sensation associated with teleportation. A few seconds later, she, along with everyone else in their group, rematerialized and found that they were still on the planet's surface. They all looked around, puzzled.

Riker tapped his comm badge. "Riker to Enterprise," he said. "What seems to be the problem. Why are we still on the surface?" There was no answer. "Enterprise, come in." When there still was no answer, Will instinctively looked to Dani. She tried her comm badge, but got the same result that Will had.

Xxx

On the Enterprise, the transporter tech worked frantically to find the signals of the 10 crew members on the surface, but to no avail.

"It's no use, Captain," the woman said. "There's too much interference."

Xxx

On the Bridge, Captain Picard was beginning to worry. He turned to Data, who was now second in command because of Riker's absence.

"Data, prepare a shuttle for launch," Picard ordered. "It looks like we're going to have to go in and get them."

"Sir, I would advise against that course of action," Data said. "The storms approaching the location of the survey team have grown in intensity and strength. They are quite severe, now. Attempting to pilot a shuttle to the surface would be dangerous, sir."

Picard took this in and reconsidered. "Suggestions, anyone?" he asked after turning the situation over in his mind. No one offered up any ideas. "Well, then, I suppose we'll just have to wait this one out."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

A light sprinkle began to fall on the team as the dark storm clouds approached the area.

"We need to find shelter," Will said. "Those clouds don't look very nice." He looked around. "I need everyone to scan for any kind of cave or structure we could use for shelter," he announced. The officers didn't hesitate to begin their search. They began roaming the area, searching with tricorders for a place of refuge from the coming storms.

Dani instinctively reached for her tricorder, and with a frustrated sigh, remembered that she hadn't been issued one due to the nature of her assignment to guard Q.

Will turned to Ensign Clements. "Mr. Clements, I need you to keep track of our environmental readings. I want to know of any changes, no matter how small."

"Aye, sir," Clements said, nodding and opening his tricorder. He programmed it to detect meteorological readings and began monitoring the planet's atmospheric changes.

"Is there anything I can do?" Dani asked. She hated feeling useless, which was how she felt now.

Will looked at her and then at Q. "Yes. Keep an eye on him." Dani and Q exchanged looks. This wasn't the reply Dani wanted.

"Sir, I've found something!" Shields proclaimed.

"What is it, Ensign?" Will asked, walking over to her.

"A system of caves, sir, only about a kilometer east of here," Shields explained.

"Sir," Clements began, "precipitation is beginning to fall at a faster rate."

Will looked up at the darkening sky. As he did so, a drop of rain hit him squarely in the eye. He looked to Clements. The ensign hadn't yet given him a report on the composition of the precipitation. Although this stuff looked and felt like water, it could very well burn his eye out for all he knew.

"No toxins or dangerous elements of any kind detected," Clements said, reading from his tricorder. He looked at the commader. "It's harmless."

Will nodded. "Let's go!" he ordered, as a light rain began to fall on the group. Ensign Shields led the way as the group journeyed to shelter.

"This is a peculiar sensation," Q observed. "I've never been wet before."

"You're going to be a lot wetter if this rain picks up before we reach the caves," Dani informed him. As if it had been waiting on Dani's cue, the sky burst open, it seemed, and rain started to pour down upon the group at an unbelievable rate. Everyone was drenched in a matter of seconds.

Dani looked at Q. "See what I mean?" she asked him.

Q regarded himself with disgust. "This is not a pleasant feeling," Q said.

"Why do you think we're looking for shelter?" Dani asked

"This is it, Commander," Shields announced. Dani and everyone else stopped walking. They had reached the entrance of what looked like a cave. Shields looked at Will, who gave her the go-ahead to enter the cave. She cautiously stepped into the cave while the rest of the group waited outside, cold and wet. Some of the crew were even sneezing.

Dani released her wet hair from the low ponytail it had been confined to and raked her fingers back through it. She waited for word from Shields.

Will tapped his comm badge. "Riker to Ensign Shields," he said hopefully. He didn't know if they still had ground communication or not, but it was worth a try.

After a few seconds delay, Shields voice sounded over the comm. "Shields here, Commander," she said.

"What's it look like in there?" Will asked.

"It's habitable, sir," was Shields's reply. "It should suit our needs sufficiently."

"Very good, Ensign. We'll be joining you shortly. Riker out." He turned to his group. "Everyone, let's move in!" he ordered. The group members gladly followed him into the caves. Someone sneezed.

"Everyone's going to be sick by the time we get back to the Enterprise," Dani predicted, walking further into the cave. Everyone settled near the cave's entrance, hoping for a quick end to the storm.

Will turned to Clements who was sitting close to the cave opening, still taking readings, as ordered by the commander. "Can you project an end to this storm system?" Will asked the ensign.

"The tricorder isn't detecting an end to the system, yet, Commander," Clements replied.

"What about any possible breaks?"

"No, sir. According to the sensors, it's a long line of storms with no forseeable end in sight."

Will didn't like the sound of that at all. If they were trapped down here for too long, things were going to get serious. With no food or water...he didn't want to think about it right now.

Dani looked at Will. He was worried, that much was obvious. She walked over to him. "Maybe the storms will move through quickly," Dani offered optimistically.

Will nodded. She had a point about the speed of the storms. There was no telling how long it would take them to move through the area. If they were lucky and the system turned out to be fast-moving, it might only take a few hours before the Enterprise would be able to beam them up. On the other hand, if the system was a slow one, they could be trapped in this cave for days. That was the worst-case scenario.

Will looked at Clements. "Is there any way to determine the speed of these storms?"

"Not with these sensors, sir," the ensign responded. "We'd need a computer the strength of the Enterprise computer to determine something like that, sir." Will nodded.

"I don't think we're going to be able to do much more than wait and see what happens," Dani said. She sneezed. "Excuse me."

Looking concerned, Will looked at Clements. "Clements, keep monitoring those storms."

"Aye, sir," Clements said.

Will turned back to Dani, his face still expressing concern. "You're right. Everyone is going to be sick. These wet clothes." Will looked down at his soggy uniform. "We're going to be chilled to the bone."

"I wish we could get out of these things," Dani said, referring to the uniforms.

Will was tempted to reply to that statement with innuendo, but decided against it. This was neither the time nor the place for it. "As long as the temperature doesn't drop, it shouldn't be a problem. We'll probably all end up with colds."

"OW!"

Will and Dani turned to look in the direction of the yell. Q was rubbing his cheek, and a young female ensign was angrily glaring at him. It didn't take a genius to figure out what had happened.

Dani walked over to him. "Q! What are you doing?"

"I was just-"

"Never mind. I don't want to hear it. Just-"

"Dani," Will summoned her. She walked over to him. "Maybe you should just let him do what he wants."

Dani looked at Will as if he'd just suggested that she eat dirt. "What? If I did that, he-" Dani stopped for a moment and thought. Will was going somewhere with this, she could see it in his eyes. With realization, she continued. "He would get what was coming to him."

"Exactly."

Dani nodded and turned her attention back to Q. "Q, you just do whatever you want to. Do whatever comes natural."

Q actually looked surprised. "Really?"

"Yeah," Dani said. "As long as it doesn't place anyone in danger, go right ahead."

"Commander Riker," Ensign Clements began, "the storm is picking up in intensity." Will rejoined Clements at the cave's entrance. "I'm picking up severe winds, torrential rain, and lightning." Clements looked at Will. "It's a regular disaster area out there, sir." As he looked back down at his tricorder, a large tree limb came flying from out of no where, it seemed, and struck Clements across the head. The impact of the hit knocked the young man off his feet.

"Eric!" Ensign Shields was at Clements's side in an instant. Clements looked dazed for a moment before losing consciousness completely.

Dani picked up Clements's tricorder and scanned him with it. It wasn't a medical tricorder, and it wouldn't be able to give her detailed information about Clements's condition, but it would give her a general idea of what was wrong. "He's got a concussion," Dani determined. She attempted to get a more detailed reading from the tricorder, but was unsuccessful. "If that's the only major injury, he should be okay." She looked up at Will. "We should probably get him away from the entrance."

"That's a good idea," Will said. "In fact everyone should probably stay clear of the entrance." He crouched down and grabbed hold of Clements's underarms. Dani held on to Clements's right leg, and Shields, his left. They each stood, lifting the young man. They carried him deeper into the cave. They sat him down on the floor of the cave, next to a wall.

Dani stood next to Will. "We should get him dry," Dani said, lowering her voice. "I can't be sure of what other conditions he might have, but I do know that he does not need to get too cold. He could go into shock. And the cold combined with the concussion could give him a fever."

"I know. I'd thought about that," Will said, also in a quiet voice. "I don't know how we can do that while leaving Mr. Clements with some semblance of dignity." If it came down to it, Mr. Clements's dignity may have to be a secondary concern to his health. Will looked at Shields and called her over.

"Yes, Commander?" she said.

"Are there any nearby room in these caves?" Will asked.

Shields looked puzzled as she pulled out her tricorder and began a preliminary scan of the area. "Yes, sir. The closest is a few meters north of this room." She looked up at Will. "Why, sir, if you don't mind my asking?"

"Mr. Clements cannot remain in his wet clothes," Will began to explain. "He could go into shock or develop a fever. We have to get him dry, which means we have to remove his clothes." Shields nodded. "Milsap, Gomez." The two men appeared in front of Will. "We need to move Ensign Clements. We need your help." Milsap and Gomez nodded. They bent down and picked up Clements. "Follow Ensign Shields," Will directed. Shields led the way to the adjacent cave, and Will, Dani, Gomez, and Milsap followed.

Once they all entered the room, Will directed the two men to lay Clements down near the cave wall. They stood and awaited further orders. "That'll be all." The two men left the room.

Dani walked over to Clements and kneeled. "Help me," she said. Will and Shields walked over and keeled beside Clements. They all began to remove his boots and uniform. After a few minutes, Clements had been completely disrobed. Will, who had acquired a phaser from one of the security officers, fired on a nearby boulder until flames erupted from the rock.

"That should keep him warm," Will said. "Dani, I want you to stay here and keep an eye on him. You've got more medical training than most of the others here. Keep me posted."

"Aye, sir," Dani said.

Will turned to Shields. "We need to map the rest of this cave system."

"Yes, sir," Shields replied. Will cast one more glance at Dani before leaving the room with Shields.

Dani looked down at Clements. She took off her uniform jacket, balled it up, and placed it underneath his head before scanning him again. Nothing much had changed in his condition. He still had a concussion, his temperature, at the moment, was normal, and she still couldn't discern whether he had additional, more serious injuries. She leaned back against the rock wall and looked down at him. He had a nice body. Nice pecs, nice abs. She studied his face a little more closely. He seemed familiar. It was probably that she'd seen him around the Enterprise. But no, she'd only been onboard a few days. Eric Clements...Clements. It then struck her. Eric Clements had been in her graduating class at the Academy. Come to think of it, so had Shields. And Milsap. They'd never been friends, but they'd all been familiar faces around campus.

The Academy. Friends at the Academy. She wondered if Clements, Shields, and Milsap had been friends at the Academy. She wondered if they were friends now. She knew Shields and Clements were, but were they friends with Milsap?

All this thinking about friends made Dani think about her own friends from the Academy. Kyle Hicks, Rane Skara, Emery Bell. She made a mental note to look them up and find out what they were up to when she got the chance.

Clements moved. Dani snapped to attention and opened her tricorder. She began to scan him. He was regaining consciousness. His eyelids began to flutter, and he moaned a little. He began to sit up, but Dani gently pushed him back down.

"Whoa, take it easy," she said.

Clements breathed deeply and brought his hands to his forehead. "My head," he said.

"Relax," Dani said. "You have a concussion."

He sat up slowly. "What happened?"

"You were taking readings by the cave's entrance, and a large tree limb hit you on the head. It knocked you out cold."

"Oh," Clements said. He looked around the room. "The cave looks different. Where is everyone?"

"We had to move you to a different room," Dani informed him. She lowered her eyes to his body for a brief moment to alert him of his state. Clements followed Dani's gaze and realized, for the first time, that he was completely naked. Dani turned away from him so they could both avoid any kind of awkwardness. "Your clothes are over by the fire," she informed him. "We had to get you out of them so you wouldn't catch a chill." Dani turned back to him, making contact with his eyes and his eyes only. "You need to stay relaxed. You still have a concussion. It's not as bad as it once was, but it's still a concussion, nonetheless."

Clements relaxed noticeably and leaned against the wall. He looked at the ground where his head had rested and noted the uniform piece balled up in the form of a pillow. Janeway was missing her uniform jacket, so he put two and two together and surmised that it was hers. He picked it up and tossed it back to her. "So, is there anything you don't do?" he asked.

Dani caught her jacket and immediately picked up on the bitter tone in Clements's voice. "You're welcome," she said. She tossed the article of clothing back to him, which he picked up. "Keep it. You shouldn't be resting your head on the hard rock."

Clements balled the jacket up and placed it under his head as he rested against the craggy cave wall. "I suppose I should be thanking you. Are you our resident medic now?"

"No, but I'm the closest we've got down here." Dani really could do without the crappy attitude this guy was giving her. What was his beef with her, anyway?

"So, how is it that you have the honor of being my doctor?" Clements inquired.

"I trained as a medic onboard Voyager," Dani told him.

"Of course," Clements snorted. "Mommy and Daddy's ship."

"Look, I really don't like the attitude you're giving me." Dani had never had the opportunity to pull rank before. She was, after all, only a Lt. JG, but she would do it if the situation called for it. This was quickly becoming one of those situations. "You should remember that you're talking to a superior officer," she said.

"Permission to speak freely, then, Lt.?"

Dani knew that she would be inviting a verbal bashing by agreeing to give him permission to say whatever he wanted, but she was interested.

"Granted," she said, responding to his request.

"You're not a superior officer," he said. "Just one of a higher rank."

Dani smarted at the jab she had just been dealt by Clements. She was more curious, than upset, by the remark, however. She wanted to know how he had come to this conclusion.

"And why do you feel this, Mr. Clements?" she asked him. She decided to offer answers for him, because she had a good idea of what he was going to say next. It was the same thing people had been saying about her since she'd started the Academy. "Is it because Starfleet runs in my family? Because I've been around it all my life? Maybe, because of all that, I've had it a little easier than most of the other officers? People let stuff slide because of who I am. Maybe I caught a break here or there. Is that it? Because I got special treament?" She looked at Clements.

Clements wondered why she was gloating. Everything she was saying was nothing to be proud of. She hadn't earned anything. Right now, he was utterly disgusted with the woman.

"You don't know anything about me," Dani said, her tone of voice changing. She got up and walked across the room. Clements thought what everyone else thought. The problem was, what everyone else thought was wrong. "You don't know about my life, what I've experienced," Dani continued. She slid to the ground and sat across from Clements, watching him through the dancing flames of the little fire between them. "That's my main problem. It's been my main problem for years. Everyone thinks they know when they really don't."

Her gaze shifted from him to the flames and she began. "From the moment I returned to the Alpha Quadrant with Voyager, I've been in the public eye. It's not something I was used to. Even before Voyager, I lived a pretty ordinary life. And on the ship, there was no public. We were a family. But when I got back to Earth, it was like I was thrust into this role of...celebrity or something. I don't know quite how to describe it. What I do know is that I wasn't ready for it. My parents had tried to prepare me for what it might be like, but there's only so much you can prepare for. I dealt with it, though. In fact, looking back now, I realize that was the easy part. The difficult part was the backlash of all the attention."

"What backlash?" Clements asked ruefully. "You seemed to have benefitted well from it."

"You're making my point exactly," Dani said. "It's that kind of attitude. That's the backlash I'm talking about. People assume that those who are in the public eye get freebies, so to speak, because they're famous. Now, because they assume that everyone else is giving this popular person special treatment, they want to do everything in their power to make sure that person doesn't get any special treatment from them. In other words, they hate you because you're famous. This is what I've had to learn, and it's been a hard lesson. In the Academy, I had professors who were mean simply because they didn't like who I was. I had other students constantly at my back because of jealousy and contempt. Most of them held attitudes similar to yours. So, you see, the actuality of it all is that my life has been quite the opposite of what you and most others think. The only ones who really know what my life has been are either the ones who've known me for a while or the ones who've taken the time to actually listen to me and get to know me."

A few moments of silence followed. Clements broke through it and asked, "Do you tell that story to everyone you meet or just special cases?" That had been a wonderful story, but Clements wasn't going to let some sobstory manipulate him.

"I don't have to justify myself to you," Dani said. "I didn't tell you this story so that I could win you over. I told you because it's the truth. I couldn't care less about what you or anyone else thinks about me."

"That's a lie," Clements countered. "Everyone cares about what people think about him a little. I don't care who you are. That's just a part of being human."

"Well, I don't do things to gain other people's approval."

"Obviously. Or else you wouldn't have been with that spoonhead, Dukat." Clements had struck a nerve with that one. He could tell. Even through the flames and the smoke, he could see her expression change from one of anger to that of a sad little girl.

"I don't want to talk about him," she said quietly.

But Clements was unrelenting. "Why is that, Lt.? Are you ashamed? You should be. Wallowing with the low-life of the universe. You know, they should've court-martialed you for that. You were sleeping with the enemy."

"I said that's enough, Ensign," Dani said sternly. "My relationship with Dukat is a personal, private matter."

Clements nodded. "Okay, I'll give you that. But your relationship with the commander surely isn't. You flaunt that relationship like some kind of a flag . It seems very strange how a person could go from someone as detestable as Dukat to someone as upstanding as the commander."

"What are you getting at, Ensign?" Dani inquired. She had a good mind to shut him up by pulling rank again, but she was genuinely interested in what he had to say.

"You're attracted to power," Clements concluded confidently. "It's no surprise, you've been around it all your life. It's like a drug." He looked her over, disgustedly. "You want to be as close to it as possible, and if that means falling into the beds of those in power, so be it."

Dani shook her head and released a rueful laugh. "You're deluded."

Clements was silent for a few moments. He closed his eyes. Dani looked over at him, suddenly alarmed. "Clements?" she said. "Ensign Clements?" She stood and walked over to where Clements sat. She kneeled beside him, checking his pulse. He still had one, of course. She checked its rate - good. "Clements?" She shook him gently, and he stirred. "You've got to stay awake. Keep your eyes open. You can't go to sleep. Do you hear me?"

"Yeah," he said, nodding weakly.

"Stay awake," Dani said firmly.

Clements breathed in and out deeply. "So, how did you and the commander hook up?" he asked after few more intervals of deep breathing.

Dani watched him intently, glad that he was talking. That was a good sign. The more she could keep him talking, the less chance of him drifting off to sleep. She kept her eyes on him as she answered, determined not to let her voice lull him to sleep. "Will and I have known each other for a long time, since I was a little girl. I don't even remember how old I was when we first met. Seven, maybe eight. When my parents were away on missions they deemed dangerous, I spent some time on the Enterprise. During the school year, I stayed on Earth with my grandmother. But during the summers, I'd be on the Enterprise. We had a family friend who served onboard and agreed to be my guardian."

"I don't understand," Clements said. "Why not just stay with your grandmother all the time?"

"My parents wanted me to have fun and experience things. Not that Grandma wasn't fun or anything. It's just that after nine months of seeing her, I usually needed a change of scenery. Besides, being on the Enterprise made it easier for me to see my parents. If the Enterprise and one of my parents' ships were rendevousing at the same starbase or something, I could transfer and be with my parents."

Clements looked at the dirt ground. Janeway had grown up being bounced around from place to place. He hadn't known that.

Dani recognized Clements's demeanor and quickly interjected before he got the wrong idea. "Don't get me wrong, now. It wasn't as crummy as it sounds. My parents weren't complete work-a-holics. They did have shoreleaves, which is when they'd come back to Earth. And my dad didn't work on starships all the time. When I was 11, he started teaching archeology at the Academy. Which meant I could see him a lot more."

"So, how does Commander Riker play into all this?" Clements asked.

"Well, one day, I remember I was running in the corridor, which I wasn't supposed to be doing, by the way. I was supposed to be in one of the school rooms, but I'd sneaked out. Well, I tripped over something, and fell and hurt my ankle. Will, thankfully, was coming around the corner... "


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

It was by chance that Will Riker looked down in time to see a little girl sitting on the deck. He was glad he'd seen her. He would hate to have stepped on her by accident. It was a strange sight, uncommon even on this ship. People didn't just go around sitting on decks. He stopped walking and looked down at her.

Eight-year-old Dani Janeway looked at the pair of feet that'd just stopped beside her. She followed the legs up to the face of the tallest man she'd ever seen in her life. He was even taller than her dad. He had a beard, wore a red uniform, and was looking down at her curiously.

"Well, hello," the man said.

"Hi," Dani replied. When he squatted down, Dani thought that she was going to get yelled at for being somewhere she wasn't supposed to be without an adult. Instead, he looked at her with kind, blue eyes and smiled. That put Dani at ease.

Will watched as the girl visibly relaxed. Good, he thought. He didn't want her to be upset. "What's your name?"

"Dani."

"I'm Will." He held out his hand. Dani took it and shook it as an adult would. Her eyes fell to the man's collar. 1, 2, 3 full pips she counted. He was a commander. Commander Riker. She'd never seen him up close before, but she remembered her parents and others speaking of him.

"What seems to be the problem here?" Will asked.

"I hurt my ankle," Dani replied.

"Oh, really? How did that happen?"

"I fell."

"Oh," Will nodded. "Well, can you move it?"

"I think so," Dani said, tentatively moving her foot. "Ow. Okay. I think not."

"All right, okay," Will said. "I don't want you to hurt it anymore. Here, put your arm around my neck." Dani did as Will instructed, and he scooped her up into his arms. He stood with her. "You all right?" Dani nodded. "Okay. Here we go." He started to walk with Dani.

A few minutes later, Will walked into Sickbay with Dani in his arms. He looked around.

"Hello, Commander," Nurse Ogawa said approaching them. She looked at Dani. "Hi, there," she greeted the girl cheerfully.

"She injured her ankle," Will said. "My guess is that it's sprained."

"Well, we'll get you fixed right up," Ogawa said. "Let's get her on a biobed." Will walked over to the nearest biobed and placed Dani upon it.

Dr. Beverly Crusher walked out of her office and sighed with relief as she saw who her newest patient was. "There you are," she said, joining the little group at the biobed. "Everyone has been looking all over for you." She looked at Will. "Where was she?"

"I found her in the corridor," he replied. "I think she has a sprained ankle."

Beverly passed her medical tricorder over Dani's injured ankle and confirmed Will's diagnosis. "You're correct, Commander. This little girl has some way or another sprained her ankle." She looked at Dani, who sheepishly looked away. As the doctor began to heal Dani's ankle, she asked, "How, might I ask, did this injury occur?"

Dani hesitated before answering. "I was...running in the corridor, and I fell," she admitted.

"Mm-hmm..." Beverly said, finishing up the treatment. She turned the little device off. "Ms. Janeway, we're going to have to do better than this."

Will's eyebrows raised. Ms. Janeway? He'd heard that name before. Why did that sound familiar? He looked at Dani. "What's your mother's name?" he asked her rather straight-forwardly.

"Commander Kathryn Janeway," Dani said proudly. Will was amazed. It always amazed him when he met the children of people he'd known before they were parents. He and Kathryn had been in the same Academy class. He looked at Beverly, who had an amused expression on her face. He looked down at Dani. He could see it now. She resembled her mother a great deal, save for a few exceptions here or there.

Beverly looked down at Dani and continued. "We want you in one piece when we meet your mother next week."

"Yes, ma'am," Dani said.

"That means being where you're supposed to be, when you're supposed to be," Beverly said, in a mildly scolding tone.

"Yes, ma'am," Dani said again.

Beverly looked Dani over. She reminded her so much of Wesley at that age- bright-eyed, intelligent, and always looking for an adventure. "Will, would you be so kind as to escort our little adventurer back to school room three?" Beverly requested.

"Certainly," Riker said. He helped Dani off the biobed.

Xxx

Dani looked at Clements. She'd gotten so wrapped up in telling the story that she hadn't been keeping an eye on him.

"Don't worry; I'm awake," he said.

"You were a bit quiet," Dani said. "I was just checking."

"So, continue with your story," Clements said.

"What more is there to say?" Dani asked. "We ended up together, so it's pretty self-explanatory, isn't it?"

"I don't know...people don't just go from having this buddy-buddy relationship to being lovers," Clements said.

"It happens all the time, Clements. And yeah - that is pretty much what happened. I was twelve when Voyager became stranded in the Delta Quadrant. When we got back to the Alpha Quadrant, I was 19. We hadn't seen each other in seven years. I wasn't the little girl I'd been when we'd left."

"You can't tell me your parents were okay with this," Clements said in disbelief. There was no way. It was a known fact that Riker liked the ladies. There can't be any way Admiral Janeway and Captain Chakotay would have let their 19-year-old daughter walk into that one.

"You're right," Dani conceded. "They had a few qualms. My dad, mostly. He knew about Will's rep." She snorted. "Who didn't? He liked Will. He thought he was a good guy - just not good for his daughter. He was trying to protect me because he didn't want me to get hurt. I think he probably had a problem with his daughter's boyfriend being that same age as he. I don't know. It all worked itself out."

"What about Dukat?" Clements asked.

Dani looked at Clements. She'd told him earlier that she didn't want to talk about him, but the tone of that conversation had been different. He'd been attacking her. Now, though, he seemed to have a sincere interest.

She sighed. "Marac Dukat," she said. "That's a whole different story. You know, I just don't know what it was about him. Guess he just had one of those magnetic personalities. I couldn't explain what drew us together if I tried. I couldn't stand to be in the same room with him at first. I hated him. But I didn't even know him. After I got to know him, it was different." She shook her head. "It was just one of those things that you can't explain. I know we loved each other." Dani lowered her head. Talking about him brought back all those memories of the day he'd been taken away from her.

Clements realized that Dukat was apparently still a difficult subject for her to discuss. He decided a change of topic was in order, but he didn't know what to change it to. He couldn't think of anything to talk about. It was this damn concussion. It was fogging up his mind.

Clements was unexpectedly rescued from his predicament by Dani. "Don't worry about it, Clements," she said. "You didn't know. No one does." She left it at that. Clements took his cue from her and did the same.

Xxx

Fifteen minutes later, Will and Ensign Shields walked back into the room. Dani looked at them. She stood and walked over to them. "What did you find?" she asked them.

"Most of the other passage ways are blocked by large rocks at some point," Will replied. "There are a few more openings, but most don't go anywhere. They're little more than rooms resembling this one." Will's gaze flicked to Clements and back to Dani. "How's he doing?"

"He's doing okay," Dani answered. "He's just got to stay awake. If he falls asleep, he could possibly slip into a coma."

Will nodded. A loud clap of thunder sounded. Dani felt the ground vibrate slightly beneath her feet. She looked up at Will.

"This storm's getting worse," Will observed. He looked at the room's opening as a young officer very excitedly ran inside.

"Commander, the ceiling's caving in!" he exclaimed. As he said it, rocks began to fall around Will, Dani, Shields, and Clements.

Will and Dani looked at each other in desperation. Will had a decision to make. They could stay put, go deeper into the caves, or leave the caves. Dani had a good feeling that the first option wasn't going to be chosen. Staying here amidst falling rocks would eventually mean certain death. Dani turned and looked at Clements. He was already getting dressed, with Shields assisting him.

Will looked at Dani, his decision made. "Alright, everyone - let's move!" he said walking to where the rest of the officers were. "We're moving deeper into the cave! Let's move! Quickly!"

Dani turned and looked at Clements. He was fully clothed, and Shields was helping him out of the room. "I've got him, Lt.," she said. Dani nodded at her. She walked out into the main area. Everyone was quickly filing out into another area of the cave system. She could see Will in the front, with a Lt. scanning for a suitable area as they moved.

Dani made sure that everyone was in line and moving out of the area before she joined in at the end of the line. They entered a long narrow corridor, the only passage from the main room that actually went anywhere. The passage was pitch black, and no one had any palm lights. They had to slow down and feel their way along the passage by following the wall.

"Everyone, grab hold of the person in front of you," Will instructed. "It doesn't matter if you're holding hands or holding on to their uniform, just make sure you're in contact with someone else."

Dani clasped hands with the person in front of her and followed along. It was so dark. She couldn't see a thing. She tried not to think about the fact that each successive step could be a step to her death. Meanwhile, the cave's ceiling was still coming down around them. Little rocks and dust were constantly raining on her head. She knew that, because she was still wet, the dirt would turn to mud in her hair and on her clothes.

Just when she thought she was going to go crazy with the darkness, she could distinguish a small pinpoint of light in the far distance. Every few minutes, Dani noticed that the point of light grew larger. She wondered if they were coming to an exit from the caves. She hoped not. That meant they'd go back into the rain and wind. But if that's where it led, then they wouldn't have much of a choice. They couldn't stay in the caves with them falling in around them.

As they drew closer to the light source, Dani began to doubt that it was an opening to the outside. She suspected that if they were heading outside, they would've begun to feel some of the wind they'd experienced earlier. She also suspected that the thunder they'd been hearing would be getting louder. No, this wasn't an exit. What was it then?

Dani's question, which she was sure was everyone else's question as well, was answered as the passage became more illuminated. The passage opened up into a large room with a large illuminated body of water in the middle of it. It resembled a fountain. Dani would've instinctively taken a step forward if the officer in front of her hadn't warned her to watch her step. Dani immediately looked down at her footing. That step she would have taken would have been her last. A deep, dark ravine separated her and the away team from the fountain. She looked at the rest of the team in front of her and realized the peril they were in. The amount of ground they were afforded to walk on was laughable. No more than a collection of scattered foot- and handholds. One wrong step would send someone falling to his or her death.

Dani's eyes eventually fell to Will. He was looking directly at her. He looked at the room around them. There was an opening to another passage on the other side. He studied the route they would have to take to get there. It was going to be dangerous, no doubt. He thought back to their journey through the dark corridor. Lt. Varak's tricorder hadn't indicated any additional openings they might've passed by on their route. No. This was the only way. Will looked to Varak, the young Vulcan officer who'd been taking sensor readings for him. "Are these footholds and handholds stable?" Will asked.

Varak scanned the room with his tricorder. "Yes, sir," he replied. "Sensors indicate the rock in this room is stable."

Will nodded. "Okay, everyone," Will began, "just watch your footing and your handholds. Be careful, cautious. And take your time. You'll be fine." Will turned to the first foothold and said a silent prayer as he stepped onto it and reached out for the first handhold. He had to reach back and remember his rock climbing skills. It'd been a long time since he'd last rock climbed. And even then, there'd been safety measures. Here, there were none. It really was life or death.

Before Will knew it, he was moving along the wall. His next goal was to reach the little landing a few feet away. There were a few of them settled along the wall en route to the passageway. They would be good for rests.

Dani was the last to begin the task of braving the rock wall. Her heart was thudding wildly in her chest as she fought the urge to look down. She took a few deep, calming breaths to regain control as she left the security of the landing. Now the only thing keeping her from plummeting into nothingness were the few jutting rocks her hands and feet clung to. She continued slowly and steadily.

Will's next step took him to that first landing/resting spot. It was only big enough for two or three people at a time, so Will wouldn't have very long to rest. However, any rest was better than no rest. There was no way he'd be able to make it all the way around that wall non-stop. When he noticed a third person joining them on the landing, he began to get a move on. He stepped out for the next foothold and reached out for the next handhold. He moved off the landing and began moving again.

When Dani reached the landing, she was grateful for the rest. She was a little winded, and the urge to sit down and rest was great, but if she sat down now, she knew it would be all that much more difficult to get up and get moving again. She looked at the path that lay before her, at the number of people climbing and realized that something seemed different somehow. Someone was missing. But she was sure that she'd been the last one. She looked back at the landing they'd all left. That's when she saw Q standing at the edge looking like a scared little animal.

"Q," Dani shouted, "come on!"

"I-I-I can't," Q stuttered.

"What?"

"I...can't," Q repeated. "I think-I think I'm afraid."

Dani looked up at the ceiling, not believing this. A scared Q. But he wasn't Q now, Dani remembered. He was mortal. A mortal who'd never had any rock climbing training before.

"I can't do it," Q said again.

"Yes, you can, Q," Dani insisted. "Just take it one step at a time, Q. You'll be fine."

"No, I won't! I could fall, and there's not even an end to where I could fall to."

"Q, you have to do this. We can't leave you behind! Now come on - one foot, one hand at a time." Q was still frozen on the ledge. "Q, you wanted to experience being human. Well, this is it. This is what it's about. Taking chances, survival. We all have to do it at some point. I can't come back there and get you, and I can't stay here forever and wait on you. If you want to live, if you want to accomplish something, you'll climb this wall." Dani really didn't want to leave Q behind, but she couldn't afford to stay behind all day and wait on Q. She had to keep up with the rest of the team. She knew Q's father would come and get him eventually if she left him. That was last resort, though. She'd rather he come with them. She stood staring at him, waiting for him to make a move. When he didn't, she gave up on him.

"See you later, Q," she said turning her back on him and preparing to retake the wall.

"Wait!" Q exclaimed. Dani turned back around to face him. "I'm coming," Q said. Dani smiled internally. Something had clicked with Q. She watched as he took the first tentative step to the jutting foothold in the wall.

"That's it, Q - one step at a time," Dani encouraged. She watched him slowly make his way over to the ledge. Dani reached her hand out to him, offering it as the final handhold of that leg of the journey.

Will, who'd made his way to another ledge, was watching on. He hadn't realized that Q had been left behind. He was practically willing him to make it across. This kind of climbing was difficult for those who'd had training. He knew it had to be ten times harder for someone who'd never done it before.

Will wiped the sweat rolling down his forehead. It was burning up in here. He looked at the other members of the group. Many of them had already shed various layers of their uniforms. Will decided to take a lesson from them and do the same. He unzipped the jacket of his uniform and discarded it on the ledge he was on, making sure to transfer his comm badge to his newly-exposed vest. He pushed his sleeves up to his elbows. He instructed the members of the team who arrived on the ledge to continue along the wall without him. He had to make sure Dani and Q caught up with the rest of the group okay.

Q had made it. With one hand, he reached out and took Dani's hand. He stepped onto the ledge with one foot. When he brought his other foot to the ledge, however, the rock crumbled beneath him, and he lost his footing. He fell and would've kept on falling if Dani hadn't been holding his hand. When Dani almost went over with him, Will nearly jumped off the ledge to try to get to her. His heart beat in his ears, and his stomach turned to jelly.

Dani gripped Q's hand with both of hers as he dangled from the ledge. She was in a squatting position, pushing away from the edge with her legs and using her body as leverage. "Give me your other hand!" she grunted. He obeyed and brought his other hand up and grabbed Dani's wrist. Q was no feather weight, Dani realized. He'd grown since they'd last met. Dani mustered all the strength she could and pulled with all her might. She closed her eyes and pulled, not letting up at all. When she realized it was working, she opened her eyes. She was pulling Q back onto the ledge. She continued to pull until Q was safely on the landing. Once he was, she sat back, breathing heavily and sweating profusely. Her whole body ached from that exertion. She looked at Will and saw him breathe a sigh of relief and lean against the rock.

Dani looked at Q. "Are you all right?" she asked him.

Q nodded. "I think so," he said. "I've never been so petrified."

The common response to that was usually 'neither have I.' In Dani's case, that wasn't exactly true. She'd been that petrified before on more than one occassion. So, she simply said, "I know."

"I almost died," Q realized. "You saved my life. Thank you."

Dani nodded, acknowledging Q's apology. "That's what cousins do," she said. She unzipped her jacket and left it admidst the pile of jackets and uniform pieces other's had discarded. She took off the vest, too. She was hot. She pulled her communicator off her jacket and placed it on the chest of her red tunic.

She looked at Q. "You ready?"

Q looked at her and nodded. They both stood.

Xxx

By the time 45 minutes had passed, everyone had safely made it around the wall to the other tunnel. The team followed the same procedure it had used to navigate the last tunnel to make it through this one. Once again, they were in pitch black darkness. Will was once again at the front of the group with Varak taking sensor readings on directions. Dani had Q's hand. She was going to make sure he wouldn't be left behind again.

This tunnel was significanlty shorter in length than the other. After only a few minutes of walking, they ended up in a cave, different from the one they'd originally taken shelter in, but still a cave. And, dark, although, not as dark as the tunnel. But colder. Much colder.

"Sensors indicate a sharp drop in temperature," Clements quipped, rubbing his arms.

"Noted," Will said. He looked past the cave's entrance. Night had fallen. That might account for the dip in temparature. And it was still raining. There wasn't quite as much thunder or lightning, but it still wasn't safe. Judging by the erratic motion of those plants, the wind was still pretty high.

"It feels like we've stepped into a freezer, sir," Clements said.

Will looked around at the team. Most of them had stripped out of their jackets, including himself. Many of them had also left the vests behind.

"We can't stay here," he said. "Everybody back into the tunnel."

The group abandoned the cave for the dark tunnel. Immediate warmth greeted them. "Just get comfortable everybody," Will said. "It looks like we've found another place to wait the storm out." Everyone sat down, some leaning back against the walls.

"So, is this what Starfleet is?" Q asked Dani.

"Part of it," Dani replied. "Not all the time, though."

"They train you for all this?"

"Officers are trained for many different scenarios. It's all about thinking and learning how to make it many different situations. A lot of the stuff you encounter, though, you've never been trained for before. It's totally new. Like when Voyager was stranded in the Delta Quadrant. There's no training for that. You just kind of have to...wing it."

"Wing it?" Q asked.

"Yeah," Dani said.

"What's that?"

"Improvising. You know, making it up as you go along. You can't really know how to be prepared for species you never even heard of before. But that's what my mother did. And she got us home in one piece."

Dani rested her head against the rock wall. She didn't care that it was hard. To her, it was as comfortable as a pillow. She was so exhausted. Her body was a giant knot, and she was sleepy. And she had to pee. She stood. "I'll be right back," she told Q.

"Where are you going?" Q asked.

"To the bathroom."

"Oh."

Dani began to walk away. Then she heard Q ask, "Can I come with you?"

"No!" Dani said. She walked away before Q could protest.

Dani walked toward the cave's opening. She would have to brave the cold if she wanted to pee in privacy. She didn't mind. She walked into the cave and found a little aclove that afforded her a little bit of privacy. She quickly took care of her business and walked out again. She would have liked to have washed her hands but realized what a silly thought it was when she looked down at her uniform. She was the picture of filth. Caked mud and dirt adorned her uniform pants. Her shirt was fairly clean, since it'd only recently been exposed to the elements. It was marred only by a few dust patches and sweat spots. She imagined that her hair was a mess with dirt and who knew what else.

And on top of all that, she was getting a headache. Probably from hunger and all the work her body had been through. She walked around a corner and was surprised to find Will standing there. His hair was muddy and in a state of disarray. His face was dirty. His uniform was soiled with dirt and mud.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"I'm fine," Dani replied. "What about you?"

"I didn't almost fall off a cliff," he said, taking a few steps closer to her.

"I'm fine. We're both fine," Dani insisted. "I've got a headache, I'm a mess, and my body hurts like hell, but I'm fine."

"It'll be over with in a bit," Will comforted.

"I hope you're right. When I get back to the ship, I just want to take a long, hot bath."

"You know what could make your bath ten times better?" Will asked with a hint of a smile.

Dani had a feeling she already knew what at least part of his answer would consist of, but she asked anyway. "What?"

"Me," Will answered. Dani knew it. Will had said exactly what she'd thought he would say.

"Is that so?" Dani asked. "Well, we'll just have to see, won't we?"

"Is that an invite?"

A bright light flooded the two of them. Both of them instinctively held their hands up in front of them to shield from the light. It was blinding them, and they couldn't see who was on the other side of the light.

"Commander? Lieutenant?" It was Data's voice.

"Data?" Will said, unsure because he still couldn't see. His eyes were still adjusting. "Is that you?"

"Yes, sir," Data replied. "I have a rescue team here. There was a break in the storms. The captain sent us down to retrieve you."

Dani and Will looked past Data at the cave's opening. More Enterprise officers were entering, they noticed. What's more, the rain, wind, thunder, and lightening had also stopped. Dani and Will looked at each other, smiling.

Data, for the first time noticed their appearances. From the looks of it, they'd had quite a time. "I'm eager to hear your story," he said. "Judging by the state of your appearances, you had quite an adventure."

Dani sighed. "You have no idea."


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Dani searched through her closet, examining the collection of civvies she owned. She wanted to choose things that would be awesome for the night life on the shoreleave trip she would be taking next week. They were going skiing on Dolas, but still, if she and Will decided to go to Dolas' moons for the nights, she would need outfits that were absolutely irresistible. She'd been in this uniform for far too long without any time to enjoy the freedom civilian clothes provided. What she chose to wear on leave would have to be stellar.

As she contemplated a black mini, her door chimed. "Come in!" she called. The doors opened, and Q2 walked in. Dani looked up and saw his reflection in the mirror. She turned to him, surprised.

"Q," she said. "I didn't expect to see you here. I thought your father was here to pick you up and give you your powers back." Q's week-long stay aboard the Enterprise had come to an end, and now it was time for him to rejoin the Continuum.

"He already gave them back," Q said.

Dani, upon hearing that, realized that Q had only chimed out of respect. She smiled. He could have just popped in if he'd wanted to.

Q continued. "I just came by to say goodbye." He held up his hand and a bouquet of white roses flashed into existence. He handed them to Dani.

"Q!" she said. She placed her skirt on the bed and accepted the roses. "Thank you, Q. They're beautiful."

"They're a token of my gratitude," Q said. "See, you showed me, down on that planet, what it really means to be human. You showed me that it isn't as easy as I originally believed. Even after my time on Voyager, I didn't totally get it. But now I think I understand a little better. Thanks to you, Commander Riker, and the rest of the Enterprise crew."

"Q, I'm really surprised," Dani said. "And impressed. I'm glad your time here wasn't wasted."

Q smiled. "Ah, Cousin." Dani returned his smile, and they hugged. Q looked at her. "I should be on my way. Dad's waiting for me."

"Oh? Where are you two off to?"

"Who knows?" Q said with a shrug.

"Well, wherever you go, don't go popping into people's bedrooms during...intimate moments," Dani chided him.

"You needn't worry about that anymore," Q assured her. "I've learned my lesson on that front."

"Take care of yourself, Q. Be careful who you mess with."

"I will. I've got to be around so that I can come back and visit you again."

Q and Dani exchanged smiles. Then he disappeared in a flash of light.

"I'm glad that you realized being human wasn't just about sex," Dani muttered.

"It isn't," Dani heard Q's voice say, "but it's a big part. And fun, too. But of course, you already know that, Cousin. And now, so do I."

Dani looked around the room. She looked back at the roses and smiled. So, he had gotten his wish. Dani walked into the bathroom, to fetch some water for the roses.

xxx

Dani had finally finished packing for shore leave. She had cut it kind of close. The Enterprise had arrived at Dolas just this morning, and she was just now closing her third, and final, suitcase. She was looking around her quarters, trying to make sure she hadn't forgotten anything, when Will walked in, sporting only a shoulder bag. When he saw the ridiculous amount of luggage in Dani's living room, he smiled and mused that the amount of things she was taking could possibly be enough to clothe a small army.

"Hello," Dani said, walking out of her bedroom to greet him.

"Hi," Will said. "You know, we're going to be gone for a week." Dani was puzzled by the statement until Will pointed at the luggage before them.

"Oh. I know," Dani said. "Do you think I'm taking enough? I knew I packed too lightly. Let me go get-"

"No," Will interrupted, stopping her from adding anything else to the small mountain of suitcases. "No, I meant, do you really think taking all that is necessary. I mean, they do have replicators down on Dolas."

"I know. I just prefer taking my own clothes with me. That way, I won't have to break anything in."

Will glanced down at the coffee table. There was a flower stasis unit there he hadn't noticed before. "What's this?" he asked, walking over to the unit and picking it up.

"They're from Q," Dani answered. "He gave them to me right before he left last week."

"Oh," Will said, replacing the little unit on the coffee table. He felt a small pang of jealousy as he realized he'd never given Dani flowers before. He'd have to do something about that before too long. "Are you ready to go?"

Dani nodded. "Yeah." Will watched her as she slung the shoulder case onto her shoulder and picked up the smaller of the two remaining cases. Once she was settled with those two bags, she reached down to pick up the third, humongous bag. It was a bit of a struggle. After two tries, she still hadn't managed to lift it.

Will laughed. He'd been holding it in, or trying to, when he found he just couldn't do it anymore. "Why don't you just let me get that one, okay?" he offered.

"Gladly," Dani smiled, realizing how ridiculous she must've looked.

Will walked over and picked up the bag with little difficulty. "After you," he said.

Dani walked out of her quarters, Will in tow behind her.

xxx

A few minutes later, they joined Troi, Data, and Geordi on the transporter platform in transporter room two. Beverly entered the room only seconds later, and the group was then ready to beam down to the surface for a whole week of fun in the snow. After seeing the transporter room gradually disappear around them, the team was soon greeted with the cozy interior of one of the many ski resorts on the planet.

Will looked at his companions and smiled. "And so it begins," he said.

The Enterprise crew members went to their respective rooms. Will and Dani would share one. Once she reached the room, she didn't bother with unpacking. She headed straight for the bed, dropping her bags and shedding her uniform along the way. By the time she time she reached the bed, she sported only her Starfleet-issue underwear. She collapsed on her stomach into the bed and sighed, all the pressures of Starfleet and the Enterprise exiting her body with the deep breath. She closed her eyes. She was just thinking that she could spend the entire week in this manner when she felt a warm presence ease up next to her and cover her body. She felt the back of a hand graze her side, from her shoulder to her knee, a few times. Up and down. Up and down. A mouth - a bearded mouth - began to nuzzle and kiss her ear, her neck, her shoulder, and she giggled. Finally, Will rolled her over onto her back and draped her arm around his neck.

"Well, well, you don't waste any time, do you?" Will asked her, referring to her sudden state of undress.

She looked up at him and saw that he was still in full uniform. "And you're a slow poke," she said.

Will smiled and kissed Dani deeply. She wrapped her arms around his body and pulled him closer to him. This was going to be a great vacation, she thought. She had Will to spend it with. She had a beautiful, exciting planet to spend it on...and then she heard a muffled chirp. She and Will reluctantly pulled apart from each other. They heard the chirp again. At first they'd thought it was Will's badge, but they quickly realized that it wasn't. Which meant that it was Dani's. They both looked over at her uniform, in pieces on the floor. With a groan, Dani disentangled herself from Will, left the bed, and crawled on the floor, searching for her chirping comm badge. Once she found it, she pressed it and said, "Janeway here."

"Lieutenant, sorry to disturb you, ma'am," a young male voice said.

"That's okay," Dani said, trying to keep the annoyance out of her voice. "What can I do for you?"

"There's a comm here for you, Lieutenant," the officer said.

"Patch it through to me on the communications console in my room down here," Dani said, moving to put on the red turtleneck portion of her uniform.

"Yes, ma'am. Enterprise out."

Dani stood, obviously annoyed. She was supposed to be on vacation, damnit. She was temporarily tempted to toss her badge out the second story window of their room on her way to the computer console, but she quickly pushed the thought out of her mind, instead wondering what the purpose of this communication could be. It was probably pretty important if it couldn't wait until after shore leave.

Will sat up on the bed and began to remove his boots. He hoped this wasn't going to be an ongoing trend on this trip. It couldn't really be shore leave if you were still at the mercy of your communicator.

Dani sat down at the comm console and activated it. Her mother's face filled the screen.

"Mom?" Dani said, obviously surprised. She couldn't imagine why they would be calling her. She hoped nothing was wrong, but immediately assumed that something was. Why else couldn't her comm wait until after she was back onboard the Enterprise. "What's the matter?" Dani asked. Oh, no. Something had happened to her father. Or Grandma. "Is it Dad?"

Kathryn Janeway regarded her daughter quizzically for a moment. She smiled, hoping to put her daughter at ease. "Nothing's wrong, sweetheart. Everything's fine. I heard you were going to Dolas for shore leave. I was calling to check in."

It was Dani's turn to look a little confused. Why would her mother feel the need to 'check in' with her? "Oh…I'm fine," Dani said. "I was just about to lie down for a nap."

"I didn't mean to disturb you," Kathryn said, her face taking on an apologetic expression.

"No, you're not disturbing me at all," Dani lied. She could feel Will's eyes on her, casting that 'yeah right' look.

"Good. Then, you won't mind your father and I dropping by," Kathryn said matter-of-factly.

"What?" was Dani's immediate reaction. Will's head snapped up. "What do you mean, 'dropping by'?" Dani asked.

"Your father and I are spending our leave on Dolas, too," Kathryn said cheerily. "We'll be able to spend our vacation together with you, just like old times."

Dani managed a weak smile.

"We left Earth two days ago. We should be there later on this afternoon," Kathryn informed her. "How's the weather?"

"I haven't been out, yet," Dani replied.

"Oh. Well, we can go out and do something later on tonight. I can't wait to see you, honey. Neither can your father." Kathryn smiled warmly. "We'll see you in a few hours. Janeway out." The older woman cut the connection.

Dani's body slouched. She sighed. "I guess two more won't make much more of a difference," she said.

"I suppose you're right," Will admitted. "We are with a group after all."

Dani stood and walked over to where Will was sitting on the bed. She stood between his knees. Unzipping her tunic, she said, "As long as we don't have to share a room with them or anything." She discarded the shirt and put her arms around Will's neck. She moved in and kissed him. "I mean, that would be absolutely disastrous." She kissed him again.

"Yes, it would," Will agreed, smiling.

xxx

When the door chimed, Dani groggily pulled the bedcovers over her head in an effort to ignore the unwanted interruption in her sleep. Maybe whoever was at the door would think she and Will were out and would go away.

Beep-boop

No such luck, Dani thought with a reluctant sigh. Beep-boop. Will stirred at the sound of the chime. His eyes blinked open as the door beeped again. "Visitors?" he asked with a yawn.

"Unfortunately," Dani said, catching Will's yawn and letting out one of her own.

The door beeped again. "I'll get it," Will said to Dani, slowly sitting up and placing his feet on the floor. He reached down, picked up his uniform pants and pulled them on. Next, he found his red tunic on the floor. He picked it up and, as he tried to put it on, realized it wasn't his tunic but Dani's. He turned to her at the sound of her giggle and tossed the tunic to its rightful owner. Taking a few more steps to the door, he came across his own tunic and quickly pulled it on. The door beeped again. "Here I come," he called out.

When he reached the door, he looked back at Dani to find that she'd already pulled on the tunic and her uniform pants and was gathering the remaining pieces of scattered clothing. As she picked up the last of the discarded clothing and headed for the bathroom, Will opened the door following another beep. He was stunned to learn who their visitors were.

Admiral Kathryn Janeway and Captain Chakotay stared back at Will Riker, smiles on both their faces. Will put on a quick smile to cover his initial shock.

"Kathryn, Chakotay," he began. He shook her hand, delivering a kiss to her cheek. He also shook Chakotay's hand, but held back on the kiss.

"Will," Kathryn began. "It's good to see you again."

"Likewise," Will said. "Well, this is a surprise. We didn't expect you to arrive quite so early. Dani?" he called over his shoulder, "Your parents are here."

Dani appeared from the bathroom as her parents were stepping into the room. "Mom! Daddy!" she said, rushing over to greet them with hugs and kisses. Smiling, she said, "We weren't expecting you to arrive until later."

"Will was just telling me that," Kathryn said. "I'm sorry I didn't mention how close we were when I commed you. It slipped my mind." Kathryn, for the first time, noticed Will's and Dani's states of undress and became alarmed. They were both in partial uniform, and it was obvious by the state of the bed and the condition of their hair that they had been disturbed. "We didn't mean to interrupt anything," she said, cautiously.

"Oh, no, you didn't," Dani assured her. "We were just waking up from a nap. It was time to get up anyway." Dani's gaze surveyed the luggage that accompanied her parents. "So, let's get you guys settled in." She picked up one of her mother's bags, a shoulder case. "You're staying here, right? What room are you in?" She was already walking to the door.

"This one actually," Kathryn answered.

Dani froze. She turned around and looked at her mother and father. "This one?"

"Yes," her father asked her. He cast an unsure glance in Kathryn's direction before continuing. "We hoped you wouldn't mind. All the other lodges and hotels on this side of the planet were booked. The only openings anywhere were on the other side of the planet."

"Oh," Dani said. She walked away from the door. She couldn't have her parents stay on the other side of the planet. That was for extremists. It was dangerously cold and isolated.

"I hope this doesn't put too much of a damper on your vacation," Kathryn said apologetically. "We can go to the other side of the planet, if you'd like. It won't be that big of a problem. Just a bit of an inconvenience. Really."

Now Dani was really feeling guilty. She wanted nothing more than to say 'okay' and send them on their way, but she couldn't do that. These were her parents. If they got hurt or worse over there, she'd never be able to forgive herself. Besides, this was their leave, too. And they'd traveled all the way from Earth just so they could spend a little time with her. The decision was made.

"Nonsense," Dani said, walking back over to her mother and placing the bag on the messy bed. "You and Dad are staying right here."

Kathryn and Chakotay looked at each other, smiling. Dani and Will looked at each other, also smiling outwardly, but a little less sure about this arrangement on the inside. This was definitely going to be one interesting vacation.

xxx

Dani and Will walked out of the restaurant on Kava, Dolas' social moon. Of Dolas' seven moons, this one was the party destination. Dani looked around at the endlessly bright lights. The music from the vast array of night clubs poured out into the streets and mingled, producing an intoxicating effect. Add to that the delicious aroma drifting from the many different restaurants, and you have Kava, one of the best party spots in galaxy.

The temperature was a comfortable 75 degrees Fahrenheit. Dani was dressed perfectly for the weather, sporting a slinky black dress and high-heeled sandals that laced up around her ankles. Her hair had been carelessly, but stylishly, put up with a hair clip. A slight breeze blew, upsetting the loose strands of her hair.

"You are so beautiful," Will said, moving to embrace Dani. His arms around her, he continued. "How did I ever end up with someone so wonderful as you?"

Dani laughed. She fingered the collar of his blue button-down shirt. "You've got to be kidding me," she said. "You're Will Riker. Charmer and lover extraordinaire. You know how you ended up with me." Their faces moved in closer to each other, and they were about to kiss when Kathryn and Chakotay walked out of the restaurant. Dani and Will promptly separated.

"So, where are we headed next?" Kathryn asked, oblivious to the fact that she and Chakotay had interrupted anything.

Dani's parents had thought it would be a good idea if they all had dinner together, which they'd just done. Dani and Will had thought it would be a good idea as well. It would afford them the opportunity to catch up with one another. But they'd thought the captain and admiral would want some time to themselves that night. They'd been wrong, apparently.

Dani turned to her parents. "Well, Will and I were going to do a little club hopping," she said.

"That sounds like fun," was Kathryn's reply. "Where to first?"

Dani glanced at Will before continuing. "Well, um, we didn't think you and Dad would be interested in that kind of stuff. We thought you might like to spend a little time together-alone."

"Nonsense," Kathryn said, not catching the hint. "We had more than enough alone time in the shuttle over. You two just lead the way, and we'll follow."

Dani and Will turned and began to walk toward the direction of much of the music. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad. It couldn't be.

They turned a corner and came to a strip lined with nightclubs. Dani smiled. The music was infecting her. She was just itching to get on a dance floor. The feeling completely dissipated when she and her companions walked into the first establishment they came to. 'Crossroads' was the name of it, and the group quickly realized that it was a Terran country/western bar. Music of that type was blaring from the speakers, and everywhere they looked, there were people in cowboy hats, tight jeans, and boots. And was that a mechanical bull in the corner? This was not the place where Dani could get her dance on. They quickly exited the establishment, preferring a much less themed place.

The next place they walked into had some alien name that didn't translate into any Federation language, but it was a bumping place. When they walked in, Dani was immediately feeling the place. The music was loud and had a good beat to it, the lights were low, and the neon tube lights that lined the walls illuminated the room gradually morphing from one color to another, blue to purple to pink to red and so on.

Kathryn and Chakotay had managed to find a little table near the bar. This definitely wasn't the kind of place they would willingly spend their free time in. They were content to wait it out, though, until Dani and Will decided to move on to another place - if they decided to move on to another place. Dani and Will had taken such a liking to this place, it didn't look like they'd be leaving anytime soon.

On the floor, Dani was completely into the music. When it finally stopped, she stopped.

"Whoo!" she exclaimed, letting out a large breath and leaving the dance floor. "I need a break." She grabbed Will's hand as she headed over to the bar. An attractive, bald bartender was waiting for them.

"What can I get for you?" he asked them.

"I'll just have a water," Dani requested. She was a little out of breath and very thirsty. She knew alcohol, even synthehol, would make her thirstier. The bartender returned a few moments later with Dani's water. He turned to Will. "Can I get anything for you, sir?"

"No thanks," Will replied. "Just bill the water to Commander William Riker."

"It's on the house," the bartender said, casting a lingering look at Dani. "Your lady friend here earned it. You should be a dancer, you know," he said, addressing Dani. He left to see to another patron before Dani could get the opportunity to thank him for his generous compliment and for the water.

She placed the glass on the little glass coaster and looked at Will. "You ready?" she asked him.

"Ready for what?" Will asked.

"To move on to the next place," Dani said.

"You seem to like it here. I thought you might like to stay for a while."

"No, that's not what club-hopping is about, at least not tonight. I want to get to as many places as I can."

"Whatever you want to do." The couple rose from the bar and walked out of the club.

Kathryn and Chakotay scanned the crowded room but didn't see Dani and Will anywhere. Then again, it was fairly dark. They couldn't see much of anyone. They stood and made their way through the maze of tables and past the bar, all the while keeping an eye out for their daughter and her companion. By the time they'd reached the exit, they'd come to the conclusion that Will and Dani must've already left the club.

"Kathryn," Chakotay began. "I think we've been ditched." He chuckled.

A ripple of small laughs moved through Kathryn as well. "I'd have to agree," she said. She sighed. "Oh, well. It isn't as if we can't find something to do on our own."

"Why don't we find a nice, quiet club to relax in," Chakotay suggested. "One that doesn't sound like a giant headache."

"I agree," she said as they left the loud, heavy thumping and bumping.\

xxx

Dani and Will had found a soulful, mellow blues club to visit. They were sitting at a little table listening to two men perform a delightful duet, a cover of an old Earth tune "Riding With the King." Dani remembered that the original had been performed by two legends, B.B. King and Eric Clapton. The guys who were performing tonight weren't the originals, of course, but they were wonderful. She took another sip of her Long Island Ice Tea. It was the real thing, not synthehol, and she could feel herself beginning to relax more and more.

The next song the duo played was a slow one, so Will decided to take advantage of it. "Wanna dance?" he asked Dani. She nodded, and they rose, hand in hand, and walked to the little dance floor in front of the small stage. There were already a few more couples out on the floor, and Will and Dani, beginning to move, just blended in. He pulled her close to his body, and she wrapped her arms around his neck.

"You don't feel bad about leaving your parents behind, do you?" Will asked her.

"No," Dani said, matter-of-factly. Then as if re-examining her earlier decision to ditch them, she asked, "Should I?"

Will shook his head. "I don't think so. No. They're adults. They know how to find entertainment on their own." Dani considered this for a moment. He was right. She knew they wouldn't be too upset about it. They'd just "gotten separated in the crowd." She was sure they would find something to suit their needs.

xxx

"Next, we have Chakotay!" an announcer called out. Chakotay, full of confidence, strode up to the mechanical contraption and gracefully climbed on. "Now, remember - if you can last a full eight seconds on the bull, you and your lady win a free round of beers and 'Crossroads' t-shirts. Are you ready?" Chakotay gripped the handle of the saddle firmly and nodded. The announcer nodded in response. "All right, boys - start her up!" At the announcer's words, the mechanical bull began bucking and spinning wildly. The other patrons in the building were cheering him on loudly. To remain on the bull would be a miraculous feat, but that's just what Chakotay was managing to do. He even put one of his arms into the air, managing to hold on to the machine with just one hand. When the machine stopped, Chakotay hopped off proudly. "Folks, he's done it! He's mastered the bull!" the announcer exclaimed. It had only been eight seconds, but for Chakotay, it had been the longest eight seconds he'd ever experienced. "Here you go, Slim," the announcer said, handing Chakotay two shirts. "You earned it."

xxx

When Dani and Will returned to their room later that night (or rather, very early the next morning) and found that Kathryn and Chakotay were not there, they were somewhat alarmed. Dani checked the chronometer on the computer console. It was nearly 0300 hours. From what she remembered from her childhood and from time aboard Voyager, her parents had never really been big night owls unless it was necessary for a mission or something else duty-related.

"Don't worry," Will said. "I'm sure they're just out having a little fun together by themselves. Or maybe they found another couple to hang with."

"Yeah," Dani sighed. "You're probably right." She looked in the mirror on the dresser and removed the hair clip from her hair. Her long, brown hair fell to her shoulders and she got an idea. She turned to Will, who was beginning to undress for bed. He'd unbuttoned his shirt cuffs and untucked and unbuttoned his shirt halfway down. Dani walked over to where he was standing, near the pull-out bed they'd offered to take so that Kathryn and Chakotay could have the more comfortable conventional bed. He was busying himself with the task of unbuttoning the rest of his shirt when Dani approached him and put her arms around his neck. She had a mischievous gleam in her eye that Will recognized immediately.

"Since we are alone, we should make good use of the time," Dani suggested.

Will smiled, but then a thought entered his head. "What if your parents come back?" he asked.

"What if they don't anytime soon. All that time...wasted."

Will smiled again as he moved in and kissed Dani. "Computer - lights," Dani called. The room darkened as Will pulled Dani's dress over her head and let it fall to the floor. Dani pushed Will's unbuttoned shirt back over his shoulders and pulled it down his arms. It, too, fell to the floor. Dani shoved Will down onto the bed and pounced on him. This one was going to have to be quick. They had no idea when Dani's parents would return. They could walk through that door any minute.

Dani and Will both froze. They heard footsteps. Will immediately rolled onto his back. He and Dani pulled the bed covers up to their necks and lay there, their eyes closed, pretending to be asleep. They were expecting the lights to pop on, but they didn't.

Neither of them expected to hear what they heard next.

They heard the distinct sound of two people kissing. Dani's and Will's eyes popped open. Dani looked at Will, who returned her mortified stare, and then peeked over at her parents. She saw them. The two of them were kissing. Then she saw them pull apart. Her eyes snapped shut, as did Will's.

"Sshhh," she heard one of them say.

Kathryn glanced over at the couple on the pull-out bed. They were sleeping peacefully. They looked so sweet. They were both under the covers, all tucked in, with their heads slightly inclined to one another.

She turned back to Chakotay. "They're asleep," she whispered.

"You're sure?" Chakotay whispered back.

"Um-hm."

Dani heard the sounds of kissing resume, but this time they were accompanied by the sound of zippers unzipping and clothes rustling. A few minutes later, she from her parents sounds she and Will had just been making themselves. Her parents were going at it! In the next bed over! Dani placed two pillows over her head in an attempt to block the noises out. Will merely sighed. 'Great,' he thought as he rolled over on his side, his back now facing Kathryn and Chakotay's bed.

xxx

The next morning, Dani sat on a couch downstairs in the lodge's lobby, sipping on a steaming cup of coffee. She hated the stuff and didn't usually drink it. But this was an extreme circumstance. She'd hardly gotten any sleep the night before. Her parents' lovemaking had gone on exceptionally long. Dani swore it seemed like the sun was rising before they were through. Dani had tried to go to sleep, but that wasn't exactly the easiest thing to do when your parents were in the bed right next to yours indulging in the carnal pleasures of the flesh. She'd been relieved when, around five, they seemed to have drifted off to sleep, allowing Dani to do so as well without the fear that she'd be awakened by their sounds of passion.

She took a sip of her coffee and winced a little. She could still taste some of the bitterness of the drink, but the sugar and creamer she'd put in it helped a lot. All in all, she'd probably received anywhere between two and two and a half hours of sleep. She was surprised she was even capable of keeping her head up and her eyes open. Hopefully, when they got outside, the cold would wake her up some. She looked away from the gentle fire that was always burning in the fireplace and saw that Will was making his way toward her. She placed her half-drunken cup of coffee on the little table and walked over to meet him.

"We're all set," he said. He took a step back and looked Dani over. "That looks so good on you." Dani was wearing a black form-fitting ski suit. It was made of a special wind-and-water-resistant fiber, so she would be completely protected from the cold. She was also wearing a bulkier cargo vest, for extra protection and to pocket certain essentials such as her communicator.

Dani smiled. "Let's go," she said, excitement waking her from her exhausted, zombie-like state. It'd been so long since she'd last skied on real slopes. She and Will had been on the holodeck a few times in the week after Q had left, to brush up on some basic skills. Once she'd warmed up a little, it had all come rushing back to her like it had always been second nature.

Now, they were going to hit the real thing. Dani and Will walked outside. Deanna, Beverly, Geordi, and Data were all outside waiting, each dressed in snow gear. Dani also noticed that her parents were present. For some reason, she found herself unable to look them in the eye. At least not so soon after...Dani quickly pushed the thoughts away from her mind. She didn't want to think about it. She turned her attention instead to the snowmobiles they were going to ride up to the slopes. Will climbed onto one and started it. Dani climbed on behind him and, after pulling her protective eyegear over her eyes, wrapped her arms around his waist. Data was the first to take off, with Troi as his passenger. Beverly and Geordi were next, each on individual vehicles. Dani and Will took off next, followed by Chakotay and Kathryn.

In about five minutes, the group of snowmobilers had reached the slopes, covering an area it would have taken nearly 20 minutes to cover on foot. The group of eight climbed off their respective vehicles and began to prepare their ski equipment. Everyone except Dani opted for traditional skis. Dani wanted something a little different, and she opted for a snowboard.

Dani pulled out her portable music device and placed its wireless earbuds in her ears. She sat her board on the edge of the slope, where she was going to push off from. She pressed a button on each of her boots, which magnetized them to the board. She pressed the play button on her music device and music poured from the earbuds into her ears.

Looking back at her companions, she announced "All right everyone, I'm going." They all looked back at her and watched as she used her weight to push the board over the edge of the slope. She moved swiftly from side to side, making it all look quite effortless as she navigated the snowboard down the slope. Once she had enough momentum, she stopped slaloming and just sailed down at a straight angle. At one point she even put a little curvature into her path, squatting down to let her gloved hand graze the soft snow, as surfers often did with waves. She stood upright again and re-established her straight path.

Dani was moving at an incredible speed, but she slalomed a few more times to pick the speed up a little more. As she did so, the front of her board must've caught on something because one minute she was gliding smoothly, and the next moment, she was eating snow as she tumbled and slid the rest of the way down the powdery slope.

The group at top of the slope watched on with growing worry and concern as Dani's figure transformed into a blur of moving snow.

"Oh, my God!" Kathryn said, stepping as close to the edge of the slope as she could without going over. Dani was lying at the bottom of the slope, motionless. "She's not moving," Kathryn said, parental worry clouding her features.

Will quickly tapped his comm badge, positioned just inside his vest. "Will to Dani," he said, his voice betraying his fear that she'd been hurt. "Come in. Are you all right?" When he didn't receive any response, he looked nervously at the others standing on the edge of the slope. He prepared to go down the slope on his own skis and was about to shove off when his comm badge chirped. "Dani to Will," came through the little device.

"Dani," Will breathed, "are you okay?"

xxx

On her back at the bottom of the slope, Dani sighed. "I'm fine," she said. "My board hit something, and I lost my footing."

"Are you injured?" Will's voice asked her through the communicator.

"No," Dani insisted. She sat up to prove it. "Just a little embarrassed with a mildly bruised ego. But what a ride." She looked up the slope at the group, despite the fact that she couldn't see them clearly. All she could make out was small figures that were standing at the top of the slope. Dani hadn't realized how large the slope was as she was coming down it, but now she could see that it was actually quite large. Will and the others at the top of the slope looked like little specks. She touched the side of her sunglasses. They had a built-in zoom function in them. Once she'd zoomed in on them, she saw that everyone was looked down at her with what looked to be great concern for her well-being.

The first thing she did was de-magnetize her boots. She started to stand up, testing her strength as she did so, just to make sure she hadn't broken or sprained anything. When she was satisfied that everything was in working order, she waved at the top of the slope.

xxx

Will smiled. Dani was waving at them. "She's all right," he said. He waved back.

Dani smiled back. They saw her. She raised her hands over her head and screamed, "Wooohooooooo!"

xxx

That night, the Starfleet group of eight sat around a table in the lobby playing poker. Data was the dealer. He even had on the green little dealer's hat.

"That's too much, I'm folding," Deanna said, placing her cards facedown on the table. She joined Beverly, Geordi, and Chakotay among the ranks of those who had already folded for this hand. Dani, Kathryn, and Will were still involved in a volatile game of tug of war. Dani hadn't played poker with Will in ages, and she was surprised she'd lasted this long in the game. She remembered how, when she was younger, Will would let her sit in on the poker games on the Enterprise sometimes. Dani's mother would kill both of them if she ever found that out, though.

Dani looked at Will. She wasn't too worried about her mother right now. She knew when her mother was bluffing. She'd seen her do it a million times on Voyager. But Will was a different story. She could never tell what he was hiding. It would only be a matter of time, though, before she would be able to crack the code of his poker face.

Glancing down at his chips briefly, Will said, "I'll see your 300 and raise you another three." He picked up six 100-credit chips and tossed them on the pile in the middle of the table."

Dani looked down at her hand. It wasn't even that good of a hand. All she had was three of a kind. She'd been able to fool everyone else, but Will wasn't buying it. She was bluffing, and somehow, he knew it. She looked down at her skimpy pile of chips. All she had left was 700 credits. She would have to fold if she wanted to survive for the next hand. "Damn!" she quietly exclaimed, laying her cards face down on the table.

That cocky smile spread across Will's face as he turned to Kathryn. "Okay, Kathryn," he said. "Let's see it."

"Well, Commander, if that's what you really want," Kathryn said.

"Oh, believe me - it is."

Kathryn raised an eyebrow and laid her cards out for everyone to see. Will was stunned. "A royal flush?" he said, shocked.

"Read 'em and weep, Commander," Kathryn said, a look of pure victory on her face.

Will sat back. "Damnit," he said. It was followed by a laugh. "Well, that's what I get for playing ahead of myself."

"Out of curiosity, what did you have?" Dani asked Will.

Will sheepishly displayed his cards for Dani and anyone else who cared to see. That entire hand, Will Riker had been holding nothing more than a measly two pair. He'd been bluffing the entire hand. Dani started to laugh. She displayed her three of a kind. Suddenly the others who'd folded began to laugh as well. Deanna displayed her four of a kind, Geordi, his flush, Beverly, her full house. Everyone at the table had hands that beat Will's. It just re-enforced the fact that you never knew what Will Riker was hiding up his sleeve.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

One week later, they were all back aboard the Enterprise, with the exception of Kathryn and Chakotay. They had all had a wonderful time on the Dolas, despite the fact that Will and Dani had to share a room with her parents. It hadn't been so bad. Just a bit of an...inconvenience. And Dani and Will had been able to actually get some sleep the rest of their nights there.

The morning of her first day back on duty, Dani was preparing to go to the bridge for the start of her bridge shift at Ops when she was unexpectedly commed by the captain.

"Captain Picard to Lt. Janeway."

Dani tapped her comm badge. "Janeway here, sir."

"Lieutenant, I need to see you in my ready room at your earliest convenience," the captain informed her.

"Aye, sir. I'm on my way." She tapped her badge, closing the connection, and gave herself one final look-over in the mirror to make sure everything was as it should be before walking out the door.

As she strode onto the bridge, Will, in the command chair, turned to see who was stepping out of the turbolift. When saw that it was Dani, he was expecting her to go to her station at Ops and was quite surprised when she walked over to the captain's ready room door instead. When she pressed the captain's door chime, Will cast her a puzzled look.

Dani heard the captain's invite and entered. Once the doors shut behind her, she said, "You wanted to see me, sir?"

Picard was seated at his desk, sipping on his customary cup of Earl Grey tea. "Yes, Lieutenant. Please - have a seat."

Dani sat down in one of the two chairs in front of the captain's desk. She had no idea what this was all about. Right now, she was calm, but she wouldn't be surprised if, soon, her heart was beating about a thousand beats a minute.

Picard placed his cup on his desk and, sitting back in his chair and clasping his fingers over his waist, began. "Dani, I've had a chance to read the officers' reports on the survey mission that took place a few weeks ago on Garessa II."

Dani felt her heart rate spike. She'd been right. She might just have a heart attack before this was over with.

xxx

On the Bridge, Deanna, who'd just taken her seat, sensed extreme anxiety from someone. At first she thought that it was someone actually on the bridge, but no. She looked at the captain's ready room door and then looked at Will, concerned.

"Dani's in with him," Will filled her in.

"Why?" Deanna asked.

Will shook his head. "I don't know. She never said anything to me about meeting with the captain."

"Will," Deanna lowered her voice and leaned in closer to him. "She's very nervous. I'm sensing fear, anxiety, apprehensiveness."

Will looked at the ready room door, worry clouding his features. Dani was in there, and there was nothing he could do to help her. At least not at this moment. Perhaps later, he could talk to the captain on her behalf. What could she have done, Will asked himself.

xxx

Inside the ready room, Picard continued. "It's come to my attention that many of your fellow officers offered numerous comments on your behavior and your actions throughout the ordeal."

It was all Dani could do not to pass out. It was getting to where she had to force herself to breathe. But she sat there, the picture of calmness and reserve, as a good Starfleet officer should. Her mind raced over the numerous possibilities of what those other officers could have written about her in their reports. When her mind came to Eric Clements, all she had to do was scratch the surface of what he might have written before her nose began to burn with the beginning of the crying process. She would not cry, though. Not in front of this man.

xxx

"Will, I'm sensing a small amount of anger," she said, her voice still low. "And great sadness. She's close to tears, Will." This almost spurred Will into action, but Troi placed a calming hand on his arm. "Let her handle this," she urged.

Will relented and sat back in his chair, somewhat uncomfortably. What was going on in there?

xxx

Dani wondered what kind of consequences she was going to have to suffer. She didn't even know what she'd done wrong, yet, but she was already contemplating various punishments. Would it be simply a dressing down, or would it be a severe as a demotion. She listened as Captain Picard continued.

"I must say, I'm not at all surprised by what has been reported to me," Picard said. "Given your background, it's what I expected."

'Oh, here it comes,' Dani thought, steeling herself for the worst.

"Dani, what I've learned about your actions down on that planet is exemplary," Picard said.

Dani felt like her heart had stopped. What? Exemplary? She waited for Picard to continue.

"Your actions are those of a true leader," Picard elaborated. "You saved one of your colleagues' lives and even risked your own to save a Q. You're spoken very highly of in your comrades' reports, Dani. Ensign Eric Clements had some particularly strong comments concerning you, all of them positive and grateful. I applaud you. A commendation will be placed on your records for your actions during the survey mission."

Dani was almost speechless. Almost. "Thank you, sir," she managed to say. "I'm honored."

A little smile appeared on the captain's face. "There's also something else."

'Uh-oh,' Dani thought.

Picard resumed. "I was going to wait until December to do this, with the other lieutenants, but I think it would be appropriate for me to do it at this time."

Dani was utterly confused. Was he demoting her? He'd given her a commendation, and now he was demoting her? Finally she asked, "Do what, sir?"

Picard stood, and Dani followed suit, as any good officer would. "Attention!" Picard barked. Dani snapped to attention. Picard, almost beaming, stood in front of a completely confused Dani. "Lt. Junior Grade Danielle Janeway, I hereby promote you to the rank of full Lt., and bestow upon you all the rights and privileges of that rank." He replaced the junior grade rank pin on her collar with that of a full lieutenant. "Congratulations, Dani," Picard said with a wide grin.

"Thank you, sir," Dani said. She felt as if a hundred pounds had been lifted from her body.

"Now, Lieutenant, you are dismissed," Picard said, pride swelling in him. He'd known Dani since she was just a little girl, and now he'd just promoted her.

Dani walked out onto the bridge, one rank higher than when she'd first stepped onto it. She relieved the ensign at Ops and claimed her station.

Deanna smiled. She could sense elation in Dani. She looked at Will, who was still worried about what might or might not have transpired in the captain's ready room. He stood and walked over to her station. She looked up at him. "Something I can do for you, Commander?" she asked him.

"No," Will replied. He lowered his voice. "Are you all right?" The young lieutenant at helm glanced at Will and Dani. A glance from Will alerted him that he should keep his attention on his station. Will looked back down at Dani and repeated the question with his eyes.

"I'm fine," she said. She looked down at her console and back up at Will. That's when he noticed that her lieutenant's pip was different. It was full. He looked at Dani, and a smile replaced his worry. She'd been promoted.

xxx

"I was scared shitless," Dani said. Her finger traced the mouth of her glass. She and Will were in Ten-Forward that night, winding down the day.

"I know," Will said, taking a sip of his yellow beverage. "Deanna sensed how you were feeling."

Dani smiled and shook her head. "I'm not surprised. I was just hoping that Captain Picard wouldn't pick up on it." She took a sip of her own red-colored drink.

"She said, at one point, that you were close to tears?"

A small laugh escaped Dani's lips. "Yeah. I was resolved not to cry, though."

"Dani, what did you think was going to happen?" Will asked her.

"I don't know. He was using all this ambiguous wording. I was thinking I was going to get demoted or something."

"Why would you think that?" Will wondered aloud. She hadn't done anything to deserve a demotion, at least not as he saw it.

Dani took another small swig of her drink before continuing. "Down on the planet, Eric Clements and I had a long talk, while you and Shields were gone. I thought, for sure, that his report would cast me in a less than favorable light. I don't know. I just panicked. Now that I really think about it, there isn't anything that would warrant the kind of action I was afraid of. I just overreacted."

"Next time, don't automatically think the worst," Will advised. "And don't freak out." He finished off his drink.

Dani smiled. "I'll try not to." As she took another sip from her glass, Data approached their table and greeted them.

"Good evening, Commander, Dani," the android said. "Congratulations on your promotion."

Dani smiled again. "Thank you, Data."

"Data," Will said, smiling up at an old friend. "What can we do for you?" He offered Data a seat at their table with a swift movement of his hand, which the mechanical man accepted.

Interlacing his golden fingers on the table, Data looked at the two of them. "As you are both aware, I will be accompanying Geordi to the engineering conference on Medisna Prime tomorrow."

"Yes, it's a two-day conference, correct?" Will confirmed.

"Precisely, Commander. Which brings me to the purpose of my visit." Data turned to Dani. "I will need someone to take care of Spot while I am away."

Will was immediately reminded of his last dealings with Data's cat, Spot. It was not a pleasant memory. That cat had scratched the hell out of him. Data obviously remembered this, too, which was why he'd immediately turned to Dani with the request.

"Would you mind cat-sitting for me while Geordi and I are gone?" Data asked Dani.

"Of course I wouldn't mind, Data," Dani agreed. "I love cats. Never actually taken care of one before, but I'm sure I could manage."

"Thank you. I am truly appreciative of it."

"Don't worry about it, Data. You know I don't mind. You just be sure to bring me back a good souvenir from Medisna."

Data smiled and stood. "I will leave adequate instructions for her care," Data assured her.

Dani nodded. "Yeah, yeah. You should be packing right now."

Data nodded at her. He looked at Will. "Commander," he said, bidding the couple farewell.

Will just looked at Dani. "I hope you don't intend for me to be spending any quality time with Spot," he said.

"No, don't worry," Dani said. "I know your...history with cats. Spot and I will be sure to manage on our own. We'll have a...girl's night out."

Will grinned. "Wonderful." He yawned. "I think I'm going to go ahead and turn in," he said standing.

"Are you feeling okay?" Dani asked, concerning spreading across her features. It was still early in the evening. Will didn't usually shut down for the night until much later.

"Yeah. I'm fine," Will assured her. "Just beat, that's all." Dani nodded, the worry leaving her features. "You're coming by later?"

"Probably," Dani replied. She sighed. "I don't even know why I have my own place anymore, I never stay there."

'Hopefully, you won't have to worry about that for very long,' Will thought to himself. He didn't dare say it aloud, though. He thought of something else, instead. "Oh, I almost forgot - Friday night, I'll be performing in a little concert."

"Concert?" Dani repeated. She hadn't heard anything about a concert. Then again, she didn't really hang around with a lot of the musicians. It could have been that the news just hadn't reached her, yet.

"Yeah. It's nothing big. Just a little performance," Will elaborated.

"Sounds good," Dani said.

"You'll be there?"

"Of course I will, barring something unforeseeable occurs. Then again, that does have a tendency to happen on this ship."

Will grinned. He loved her wry sense of humor. "I'll see you tonight." He bent down and kissed her cheek before leaving Ten-Forward.

Dani now sat alone, drinking the last of her drink. She looked out the viewport at the never-ending starfield. There was a blue nebula in close vicinity, which the Enterprise was exploring. In fact, that nebula was the reason Geordi and Data were leaving for Medisna by shuttle instead of letting the Enterprise transport them there. The ship would spend two days at this nebula before heading to Medisna.

"Lieutenant?"

Dani looked away from the blue mass in the viewport and up at the person who was now addressing her. It was Eric Clements. "May I join you?" he asked.

"Of course," Dani said. "Have a seat." She watched as the young man took the seat Will had vacated. This was one character who'd definitely succeeded in thoroughly confusing her during her time aboard the Enterprise. "What can I do for you?" she asked him. A waiter came and removed Dani's empty glass for her.

"I never got the chance to thank you, Lieutenant, for saving my life," Clements said straight-forwardly. "The doctor told me that if it hadn't been for your quick thinking, I would have been...a lot worse off than I was when they got to me."

"I didn't do anything special, Ensign," Dani insisted. "Just basic first aid."

"Regardless, it saved my life. You saved my life," Clements pressed. "Thank you."

"Well, in that case, you're welcome."

"I'd also like to take this opportunity to apologize. We weren't in the best of situations. And I certainly didn't make things any easier. I have a tendency to-"

"Ensign, don't worry about it." Dani laughed. "I can't really say I blame you for feeling the way you do."

"But see, ma'am, I don't feel the same way anymore."

Dani stared at him unbelievingly. "You're saying one away mission completely changed your opinions about me?"

"No, ma'am, not necessarily. Permission to speak freely?" Clements requested.

"Granted," Dani said.

Clements continued. "I still believe that some of your past actions were carried out in bad judgment. I don't think that's something I'm ever going to change my mind about. But I've come to the stark realization that you are a good officer. Better than the one sitting across the table from you now."

Dani sat for a moment, letting all that sink in. It was touching. "I disagree, Ensign," Dani said. "I think you're a fine officer. The very fact that you're sitting across the table from me now is a testament to that. I just think you have a little growing to do. As we all do." She gave him a few moments to absorb that. Then she stood. "Well, Ensign, I'm exhausted." Clements stood, as well. "You have a good evening." She bid the young man goodbye and left Ten-Forward. As she stepped into the turbolift outside, she thought, 'I'd better watch it. I sounded a lot like my mother in there.' "Scary," she said aloud.

xxx

Dani entered the access code for Data's quarters. She was rewarded with an inviting beep. The doors slid open, and she walked in. She looked down at the PADD of instructions that Data had left her pertaining to Spot's care. Data had only left a few hours ago, at the beginning of her shift, but Dani thought she'd stop by and check on Spot during her lunch break.

"Spot?" Dani called out in a sing-song voice. She heard the cat meow from inside Data's bedroom. When she walked in. She found the orange ball of fur lounging regally on Data's bed. "There you are." In the past, Dani would have expected Spot to bound off the bed and energetically come prancing over to her. Instead, she just lay there and meowed again. Dani wasn't surprised. Spot had to be at least fifteen years old in human years. That would make her very old by cat standards.

Dani placed her PADD down on the nearest table and walked over to the bed. When she sat down, Spot rose and made his way over to her lap. "Hey there, girl. How are you this afternoon?" The cat responded by licking Dani's hand with her little tongue. "Are you hungry?" Dani asked, half expecting an answer. "Let's go get your lunch." She stood, with Spot in her arms, and walked out to the replicator in the other room. She ordered Spot's lunch, feline supplement Number 85 from the replicator. Once it materialized, she placed the dish of food on the floor, and the cat began to dine. Dani walked back into the bedroom to retrieve the PADD she'd left there. She rejoined Spot in the living area while she double-checked the list. Was this all she was supposed to do for Spot at lunchtime?

The door chimed, which surprised her. 'Must be a visitor for Data,' Dani concluded, walking over to the door. She answered it and found Will standing on the other side.

"Hey," he said. "We still on for lunch?"

"Yes," Dani said. "I'll be done here in just a moment. Come on in."

Will almost did, but froze when he saw the cat on the floor eating. "That's okay, I think I'll wait out here."

"Will, she's harmless. She's just a little cat."

"Tell that to my face," he said.

Dani turned around and looked down at Spot. She had nearly finished her food. Dani walked over to the replicator and requested a dish of water for the cat. She bent down and placed it beside the nearly empty bowl of food.

"That should just about do it," Dani said, standing upright. She walked over to the couch and picked up the PADD. "I'll see you tonight, girl," she said to the cat on her way out the door.

xxx

Six hours later, Dani was back in Data's quarters with Spot. This time, she had an overnight bag and a book she'd been aiming to finish over the past few days. When she walked in, Spot was asleep in a chair in Data's living room. At least, Dani hoped she was only asleep. She walked over to her and studied the cat's form, noting the gentle rising and falling of the cat's body. When she was satisfied that the cat was okay, she walked into the bedroom and dropped her bag on the bed. She pulled off her boots and pulled both her feet onto the bed. Leaning forward, she pulled her bag across the bed to her and began rummaging through it for the PADD that contained her book. 'Ah! There it is!' She pulled it out and stacked the bed pillows against the headboard of the bed, preparing for a good night of reading.

She'd just activated the PADD and read the first two lines of the book when the door chimed. Dani sighed and put the PADD down on the bed. She hopped out of bed and walked out of the bedroom, into the living room and to the door. It was Will. "Hey," she greeted.

"Hi. Have you had dinner, yet?" he asked.

"No," Dani replied.

"Wanna go get something?"

"You know, I was just going to stay in tonight. Replicate something."

"Oh." Will nodded. "Do you know what time you're going to be finished up here?"

Will wasn't going to like the answer to that one. "Actually, I'm staying here, tonight," Dani informed him.

"Really?"

He might not have said it in any explicit way, but Dani could tell that Will was disappointed. "You could stay here with me, if you want," she offered.

Will almost said yes, and would have, had it not been for this old lady with four legs and orange fur.

"Where is she?" Will asked, sticking only his head into the room.

"She's in the chair, asleep," Dani answered. She looked over at the chair. Yep, Spot was still snoozing.

Will thought it over briefly. There really wasn't any danger, being that the cat was asleep. He cautiously stepped into Data's quarters.

xxx

Two hours later, Will regretted the decision to ignore his gut and enter Data's quarters. He regretted it with every fiber of his being because Now he sat on a biobed in sickbay while Nurse Alyssa Ogawa scanned the cat scratches on his face for infection.

"No signs of infection, Commander," Ogawa said. She brought out the dermal regenerator and began to pass it over the three long, deep scratches on the side of Will's face.

Will looked at Dani, who stood beside the bed. "Harmless..." he muttered. He knew he should've followed his intuition. He should have just told Dani good night and left. Everything had started out well enough. He'd entered Data's quarters, and he and Dani had gotten cozy on the sofa. Spot had awakened about half an hour later, and Dani had fed her. Everything went downhill after that. After the cat had finished eating, she'd jumped into Dani's lap and started to snuggle up against the warm body. Dani had stroked the cat's coat and cooed at it affectionately. It happened when Will moved to do the same. When Will had reached out to pet the feline, she'd flicked a paw out and scratched the hell out of his face - again.

He shook his head. There was no way anyone was going to get him in the room with that cat again.

"Please be still, Commander," Ogawa requested, turning Will's head back to its previous position. "This will only take a few more minutes."

Will sighed and complied with the nurse's request. He hated cats.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Twenty-four hours later, Data was back on board, Spot was with her rightful owner, and it was Friday night.

Ten-Forward was packed. Apparently, this was more than just a little performance, as Will had claimed it would be. At a few minutes before 1900 hours, there were at least 200 people in the room. Dani was surprised there was still an empty table or two remaining near the platform that would serve as the stage. She walked over and, after confirming that they weren't being saved for anyone, she sat down in one of the chairs.

She looked around the room. With this many people in attendance, she was beginning to think they should have held this event in the auditorium. Maybe there was something else taking place there. Then again, even if there were, she knew that Will would much prefer the casual, interactive setting of Ten-Forward over the formal distance of the auditorium.

When the crowd became more hushed, Dani looked around the room to see what had caused the sudden change. Her eyes fell on Ten-Forward's entrance, and she learned why the crowd's noise level had dropped a few decibels. Will and the rest of the musicians in the group had arrived and were walking through the door. As they took the stage and prepped their instruments, everyone clapped. The quintet consisted of a trumpet, a saxophone, a trombone, a clarinet, and percussion. Will, the ensemble's leader, stepped forward to the mic, his trombone in hand.

"Good evening, everyone," he began. "I hope everyone has had a wonderful day. And if you haven't, I hope tonight can be the bright spot in your day. Let me start off by saying that this isn't a formal concert. If you get the urge to get up and dance, by all means do so. Socialize, drink, eat. Whatever you want. Our purpose up here is to help ensure that you all have a good time. So, without further ado, here's the music. Enjoy."

Everyone clapped as Will returned to his seat at one end of the row of chairs, which were arranged in a slight arc, with the exception of the drums, which were situated behind the rest of the musicians. They began with a slightly upbeat tune, which had everyone tapping their feet. Some had even taken on partners and were dancing in an area beside the stage which had been set up specifically for that purpose.

Dani watched Will as he played. The trombone - it certainly wasn't the most alluring instrument. In the wrong hands, it could look awkward and sound awkward, too. But it seemed to suit Will. She couldn't really see him playing anything else. And he played it so well. He had such a command of the instrument. He made it look so easy, never having to distort his features in the slightest to reach those high notes.

When the song ended, the audience clapped, and Will stood and approached the mic. "This next piece is an old Earth favorite, from the twentieth century, circa the 1940s. It's called "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy." The audience chuckled at the title of the song as Will returned to his seat. The song began with a trumpet solo that led into a very upbeat melody with a heavy brass influence. Some of those dancing caught her eye when they started to perform movements that Dani could only guess were swing dance movements. She'd learned a little of it herself when she was in dance classes as a child.

Dani watched and saw that they were actually quite good. They had to have taken classes to get like that. They weren't missing a beat. Dani had a brief urge to get up and join them, but decided against it. She didn't have a partner, and she didn't want to make a fool of herself. She contented herself with simply watching them. She was amazed when the man lifted the woman off the floor and swung her to either side of him before placing her feet back on the floor again. 'They had to have practiced all this before they came here,' Dani thought, watching them as they maneuvered through another set of complicated dance moves from another era. Their movements came to an end as the song did, and once again everyone clapped. Will walked up to the mic again.

"Thank you, everyone," he said, as the applause died down. "This next piece is a little something I wrote for a very special lady." Will's eyes landed on Dani, casting a mischievous gaze her way. "I won't say who it is. I wouldn't want to embarrass her by sending any unwanted attention her way."

'What a joke!' Dani thought with a smile. That man was always doing things to bring unwanted attention to her.

Will eyes spanned the audience as he introduced their next song. "Ladies and gentlemen, sit back, relax, and enjoy as we play for you our next piece, 'Voyager Girl'" Will's gaze returned to a blushing Dani, and he grinned, placing the mouthpiece of the horn to his lips.

'No unwanted attention?' Dani thought to herself. She looked around the room. Amused eyes had fallen on her from various locations in the room. A few tables away, she spotted Beverly, Deanna, and Geordi. They were all looking at her. Had they known about this, she wondered, as the music began to flow from the stage.

Dani turned her attention back to Will. His was the leading instrument in the piece. As he played, he stood at the edge of the stage, his body angled in Dani's direction. A waiter approached her table, offering her a glass of champagne, which she gladly accepted. She took a drink of it and listened to the music.

It was a slow, soulful melody that featured distinct qualities of all the instruments involved. The conglomeration of these different attributes produced a scintillating effect. Will, in the forefront with his trombone, never averted his eyes from Dani as he played. His playing was so expressive, as was the look on his face, it was almost as if he were talking to her.

Dani had taken a second sip of the champagne before she realized that it was not of the syntheholic variety. This was the real stuff! She looked around for the waiter, but he was nowhere to be seen. How did he get a hold of real champagne? Dani took another sip of it. Damn, it was good! She hadn't had real champagne in ages. She looked back up at Will, who was staring down at her with amused eyes. 'He's laughing at me!' Dani thought. Then she realized that he must have had the champagne brought to her table. She was inclined to laugh back at him. She watched him turn to the other members of the ensemble and nod to them. She secretly wondered if he had anything else up his sleeve for tonight.

Dani turned up her glass, draining the rest of the liquid into her mouth. But the glass was not empty, she realized. Something had bumped against her lips as she was drinking the last of the champagne. Dani turned the glass back to its upright position, and the object clinked to the bottom. A ring? Dani poured the ring out into the palm of her hand. It was a pale blue diamond. She looked up at Will, who had left the stage and was now making his way to her table. She looked back down at the ridiculously shiny stone set in a platinum band.

Will stepped in front of Dani's table and knelt in front of her. The other musicians were still playing softly as Will began to speak. He took the ring, moist with champagne, in one hand, and her left hand in the other.

"Dani. Danielle." Will's mind went blank. He'd planned everything, every detail, except what he was going to say to her. He decided to forego any long-winded rhetoric and just went straight to the point of it all. "Danielle Janeway - make me a happy man by becoming my wife. Please - marry me?"

Dani looked into Will's blue eyes and laughed. "You would be the one to ask me in front of 200 people," she said.

"Is that a no?" Will asked, a smile on his own face.

"No, it isn't."

"Then you'll marry me?"

"Of course."

Will's grin widened as he slid the ring onto Dani's finger. They both stood and wrapped their arms around each other. The room roared with applause and cheer.

"I love you," Will said into Dani's ear.

"I love you, too," she responded. They kissed each other and embraced again.

When they parted, they were surrounded by friends and crewmates offering handshakes, hugs, and congratulations.

Beverly hugged Dani and congratulated her. "I'm so happy for you," she said.

"Thank you," Dani replied.

"Congratulations, you two."

Dani turned to find that it was Deanna who spoke to her and Will. "Thank you," both said in unison. Dani didn't quite know what to think. She knew that Will and Deanna had had a pretty serious relationship at some point, and she knew they were still very close. How close, though?

"Dani? Dani Janeway?" a voice called out. It was a familiar voice that Dani hadn't heard in forever. She turned to the direction from which she'd heard her name and saw a person she hadn't seen in two years. "Rane Skara," Dani said aloud, a smile coming to her lips. She watched the young Bajoran woman make her way to her position.

"Dani!" Rane exclaimed, finally reaching her estranged friend. The two embraced excitedly.

Dani didn't know what to say. "What are you doing here? I thought you were on the Merriman?"

"I was. I just transferred here," Rane said. "I came aboard this morning at Medisna. What about you? I thought you were on Deep Space Nine?"

"I transferred a few weeks ago," Dani said happily. She couldn't believe it. Her and Rane, together again, just like at the Academy. She hugged the woman again. "I can't believe you're here," she told her.

"I know. Looks like I got here just in time, though." Rane smiled, pointing her gaze to Will Riker. "Dani...married?"

"I know. Can you believe it? We haven't even talked about it or anything. He just...surprised me." Dani beamed.

Rane quirked an eyebrow. "The last time I saw you, you were ready to say 'to hell with Will Riker,'" Rane said, her voice lower than it had been previously. "What gives?"

Dani released an exasperated sigh. "Oh, Rane - so much has happened in the past two years. I can't wait to tell you about it all. What's your work schedule look like?"

"Well, I won't know for sure until Sunday, but I think I'm going to be in Engineering during Alpha shift," Rane surmised. She hadn't received her official duty schedule, yet, but she'd already corresponded with Commander LaForge, and he'd told her he needed officers for that time.

"That's perfect!" Dani said. "I'm on the Bridge at Ops during Alpha shift." The fact that they were working the same shift would allow them to spend off-duty hours catching up with one another.

"The Bridge?" Rane said. "My, my - playing in the big leagues, are we."

Dani smiled. Skara hadn't changed a bit. "I've missed you so much," she said. "I'm so glad you're here."

"So am I," Rane said.

"We'll see if you still are once you start helping me plan this wedding," Dani joked.

Some slow music started up from the band again, and Will gently lassoed Dani to him, deftly stealing her away from the small crowd of well-wishers. He draped her arms around his neck, and she leaned into him, just letting him and the music carry her. She looked up him, into those impossibly blue eyes, and something in her chest and stomach fluttered. Will smiled at her right after it happened.

"What?" Dani asked.

"I didn't know I could still do that," he said.

"Do what?"

"Cause that kind of reaction in you. Your eyes just got brighter. They dilated for a second."

"Yes, you still do it. Just when I think I'm used to seeing them, I'll look up into your eyes, and my heart will miss a beat." She sighed. "Oh, I love you so much."

Will pulled her to him, and her head rested comfortably on his chest. "I love you, too...imzadi."

Dani pulled away. At first she didn't think she'd heard correctly, but looking up at Will, she realized that she had heard correctly.

Will noted the expected puzzlement that invaded Dani's features. "Come on," he said, leading her to a more secluded spot by a viewport on the other side of the room.

Will began, "Do you remember that night in San Francisco, before we started dating, when we had dinner with your parents?"

"I remember," Dani said.

"You remember the walk we took afterward, when I kept asking you about Icheb."

"How could I forget?" Dani asked, remembering the great annoyance with which she'd fielded Will's seemingly endless inquiries about her love life.

"Then, you remember when I asked you if he was your imzadi." Will looked at her. Her gaze rose to meet his.

"Yes," she replied. She wondered where this was going, how it had anything to do with why he'd called her 'imzadi' tonight.

"I said something that night, and you probably just dismissed it as nonsense or whatever." Will looked at Dani. She was waiting for him to continue. "I implied that your imzadi was someone you'd known but hadn't become involved with, yet."

Dani remembered the conversation vividly. She did remember Will saying something to that effect, but then it hadn't made any sense to her. Now, though, the pieces were all coming together. Dani stilled the swing.

"You were talking about yourself," Dani realized.

Will didn't say anything. He just moved in closer to Dani. Cupping the side of her face with his hand, he kissed her.

Dani didn't know what to think about what Will had just told her. She loved him, and he loved her, but now she was just confused. The conversation they'd just had awakened new feelings, new questions that Dani hadn't really given any attention to before. She pushed those feelings aside, though, for the moment. 'No need to ruin a good moment,' she justified, returning Will's kiss enthusiastically.

xxx

Later on that night, Dani lay in Will's bed staring up at the ceiling. Will was beside her, also gazing at the ceiling. Her head rested on his shoulder, and her hand rested on his chest, her fingers playing in the fine hairs that grew there.

One of her legs draped lazily over his, Dani asked Will out of the blue, "Have you ever thought about having children?"

Will looked down at Dani. "As a matter of fact, I have," Will replied.

Dani hadn't been expecting that answer. Her surprise resonated in her features. "You look surprised," Will observed.

"I am," Dani said. "You've never shown any desire to have children before."

"Well, I've thought about it," he said. "Maybe a daughter." He thought about a little girl, perhaps a tiny replica of Dani, running to greet him after a hard day. Piggyback rides, cooking lessons...boys. An alarm flag went up in his head as he thought about all his previous flings and romps with members of the opposite sex. Suddenly, he wasn't too keen on having a daughter anymore. He reconsidered. "Or a boy." His mind suddenly returned to that incident with the alien who'd tricked him into believing that he had a son. It'd given him a taste of fatherhood, and after he'd gotten used to it, he'd liked it. He'd found that even though the experience he'd had had only been an illusion, he missed it.

"I never told you about the time I had a son, did I?" Will asked.

Dani looked up at Will, even more shocked than before. "What?"

"A while ago, we came across this life form that tricked me into believing that I was the captain of the Enterprise and had a 12-year-old son."

Dani sat up on her elbow and looked down at Will. "You're kidding."

Will shook his head and gazed at the ceiling, remembering. "No. His mother was supposedly deceased. When I looked through some of our family videos, it didn't take me long to realize that my 'wife' was an image from a holo-program I'd encountered during my first year of service aboard the Enterprise."

"Who was the boy?" Dani asked.

"The boy was the alien. He was lonely, so he took on the form of a human boy, created the illusion, and pretended to be my son." He looked at Dani, as she began to stroke his hair. "Before that incident I'd never really contemplated fatherhood. All I knew was that if I were ever to become a father, I would be a better father than my own father was."

Dani looked down at Will. He would be a better father than Kyle Riker had been. Dani frowned. She imagined that Will must've had an unhappy childhood. He didn't talk much about it, but she knew that he'd never known his mother, and the time he'd spent with his father had apparently been less than perfect. He'd abandoned Will when he was fifteen. Dani leaned down and kissed Will on the forehead. He looked up at her and smiled lightly.

"What about you?" he asked. "Have you ever thought about gracing the universe with your offspring?"

Dani laughed sarcastically. "Yeah. Okay. Just what this universe needs - someone who ends up being screwed up because of my wonderful parenting skills."

"What do you mean? You'd make a wonderful mother," Will assured her.

"No. The prospect of being a parent scares me to death. I mean, parents hold a lot of power. They could really mess a kid up if they didn't know what they were doing."

"Your kid would be fine. In fact, if she was anything like you, she'd be perfect."

"Yeah, well, we'll see," Dani said, returning to her previous position, lying on Will. "That's a long time coming, if ever."

They lay in silence for a while longer before Will spoke up again. "Since we're baring our souls, there's something else I want to tell you."

"Yes?"

"It's a mission we had a few years ago. Voyager was still in the Delta Quadrant, but here in the Alpha Quadrant, we engaged the Borg."

"I remember reading about it," Dani said. "The Enterprise was supposed to be patrolling the Neutral Zone, but Captain Picard disobeyed those orders to go help fight the Borg. You guys destroyed the Borg cube, and that was it."

Will sighed. "No, that wasn't it."

What did he mean 'that wasn't it'? She looked up at him "That's what the report said."

"That's what the public report said," Will corrected her.

"Huh?"

"What I'm about to tell you is top secret. If I tell you this, you have to swear that no one else hears about this." Dani was up on her elbow again, her curiosity running high. "Whatever I say stays in this room, between us," Will continued.

"I swear it," Dani agreed. "Now, what happened on that mission."

Will sat up on his elbow so that he was face-to-face with Dani. "Yes, we destroyed the cube, but what the public report doesn't reveal is that a smaller Borg sphere escaped from the cube and traveled back in time to Earth's mid-21st century using some kind of temporal anomaly. We followed them back." Dani could believe that. Time travel was frowned upon by Starfleet, and most of the missions involving it were usually deemed top secret.

Will continued. "The Borg went back to assimilate Earth and stop Zephram Cochrane's warp flight. We had to stop the Borg and make sure Cochrane's flight went off without a hitch."

"You guys must've succeeded, or we wouldn't be here right now," Dani conjectured. Will nodded, but Dani could see there was more to this story.

"Dani, Geordi and I were on Cochrane's ship with him when he made his flight," Will said. He watched her for her reaction.

"Will Riker," Dani said, "you're bullshitting me, aren't you?"

"No."

"You're saying you were on the first Terran warp vessel?"

Will nodded.

"Will, that-that's incredible!" Dani sputtered. "What was it like? I mean, Cochrane - what was he like?"

Will looked at Dani. "You want the truth?" Dani nodded eagerly. "The guy was a whino," Will said frankly.

"Will! Have a little respect! You're talking about the man who invented warp drive."

"Dani, I spent a whole day with the man. The only time he wasn't drunk was when we were actually going up. I had to stun him to get him that far. The man tried to run away from us."

"That certainly shatters my historical image of the guy," Dani said, sullenly.

"Yeah, me, too. But he finally sobered up, got serious." Will lay down on his back again. "We all came out for the better."

Dani sighed. "I guess so." She also lay back down. "As long as you don't tell me that Shakespeare was a fake or anything, we'll be okay."

xxx

"...and so then the rock gave way, and I'm just sitting there with Q clinging to my hands, dangling from this little rock landing," Dani said, telling the story of the adventure she'd just had on Garessa II a few weeks ago. Rane rested comfortably on the sofa in Dani's quarters. She graciously accepted the cup of tea Dani had just brought her from the replicator.

Dani finished up the story, as she sat down beside Rane. "I was able to pull him over, and he made it out of the caves with the rest of us, though."

"I think I would've let him fall," Rane said, sipping on the warm liquid.

"I couldn't do that," Dani insisted.

"I could. Especially after he did what he did to you and Will." Rane grimaced slightly. "And he really transported you to the bridge in the middle of...you know?"

Dani nodded. She still hadn't gotten over that completely. "It was so embarrassing. We're just sitting there on the deck, nothing but a bedsheet around the both of us." It was one of those things that would probably get funnier as the years went by. As of now, though, Dani felt like she would never live it down.

She and Rane sat in silence for a while. In the past few hours of the afternoon, they'd talked about almost everything that had happened to Dani in the past few years. Will, life on the Enterprise, her parents. They'd even discussed the play she'd gone to rehearsal for that morning. But there was one chapter of Dani's life that had noticeably not be talked about, yet.

Rane was the one who summoned the courage to broach the subject. "Tell me about him," she said.

Dani took a long sip of her red leaf tea, and smiled inwardly. He had been the one who'd introduced her to it. "He's the one who started me drinking this stuff," she said, staring into the liquid. She placed the cup, now only half-filled with the tea, on the coffee table.

"What was he like?" Rane asked. She genuinely wanted to know. What could've possibly attracted one of her best friends to a man she'd heard horror stories about as a young child?

"He was..." Dani began, but decided to start again. "The man I knew was wonderful. He was kind and nothing but good to me." She paused and brought her feet to a position underneath her body on the sofa. "He was a romantic. And he cared a great deal for his daughter. For all his children, but Ziyal was the only one he could actually have contact with. The rest of his family practically disowned him when they found out about her."

Rane swallowed. That was certainly different from anything she'd ever heard about the man. "You miss him," she observed.

"Very much," Dani admitted. "The first few weeks after...they were the hardest. Everywhere reminded me of him. And Ziyal..." Dani laughed sadly. "She has his eyes."

Rane heard Dani sniff, an indicator that the other woman was on the fringes of crying. If talking about him was having this kind of effect on Dani this long after it had all ended, Rane understood clearly that this had been a man that her friend had been deeply in love with. She was still in love with him, despite the fact that he was dead. A question arose in Rane's head.

"If Dukat were still alive," Rane proposed, uttering the Cardassian's name for the first time that night, "and you had to choose between him and Will, who would it be?"

Dani looked at Rane, puzzled. She'd never dreamed that she would ever have to make such a choice, and had never thought about it. How could she make a decision like that? She loved both of them. With Will, there was the history that they both shared. She'd known him since she was eight. Their time apart had been rough for her, and she didn't want to go through it again. He was a brother, friend, and lover rolled into one person. Being at his side was so natural, it felt like breathing.

On the other hand, with Marac there had been so much passion, Dani thought. Dukat had been like a drug that she couldn't get enough of, despite the ramifications her relationship with him had for her personal and professional life. She'd needed to be around him.

Her face visibly contorted as she grappled with the decision, she finally looked to Rane helplessly. If she were ever presented with the choice, she didn't know how she would ever be able to choose.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

By the time the new year rolled around, Dani had finally established a daily routine that didn't involve pet-sitting or a Q or being stranded on a hostile planet. During the day, Dani would go to the bridge, for her shift, usually breaking to have lunch with Will or Rane. After the end of her shift, she'd go work out in the gym or on the holodeck, depending on what kind of a mood she was in. She'd go back to her quarters, shower, and then dine with Will. After that, activities might include a variety of things, from poker with the senior staff to a quiet evening reading.

Dani was content with the leisurely pace at which life was moving for her right now. Something in the back of her mind, though, told her that this leisurely pace wouldn't remain so leisurely for very long. She was, after all, on the Enterprise. Leisurely wasn't exactly what it was best-known for being.

This day, however, it was, and having ended her shift, Dani was on her way to Will's office. Once there, she chimed and entered when he beckoned.

Will looked up from his monitor as Dani was walking in. "Hello," he said, watching her walk around his desk to greet him.

"Hi," she said, kissing him and taking a seat on one of his knees. "What are you up to?"

"I was just looking over some of these venues for the reception," Will said, indicating the computer monitor.

"Find anything good?" Dani asked, looking on with Will.

He sighed. "No. I'm beginning to think every acceptable place on the planet is booked up for the next year." Will and Dani were shooting for a June wedding date on Earth, but reaching that day was proving to be more and more difficult. They were having trouble booking a place, they couldn't find a caterer, and about a million other problems plagued their planning.

Dani brought both of her legs up and rested them across Will's other leg. She placed both her arms around Will's neck. "Why don't we just elope?" Dani asked half-jokingly. Part of her was serious. It would be so much easier than going through all this mess.

Will looked up into Dani's face, and she continued. "Maybe we could find a nice beach somewhere. We could trim the guest list down to close family and friends. We could just have a nice, intimate little ceremony right on the surf." She ran her finger through Will's beard.

"You know I would love nothing more," Will said, "But your mother would never have it."

"How stupid of me to think that I would be allowed to do what I want at my own wedding," Dani said sarcastically.

"You know, the ceremony is for the mother just as much as it is for the bride," Will pointed out, as if repeating a sacred mantra from the universal wedding manual. "You want to make your mother happy, don't you? She did get you back to the Alpha Quadrant." Dani rose and walked over to the viewport. "And besides, the invitations have already gone out," Will said, rising and walking over to join Dani.

That was true, Dani thought. They'd been sent out the week before. The entire crew of the Enterprise had received invites, as well as Voyager's former crew, half of Starfleet Headquarters, half of the Academy, and various friends and relatives who weren't affiliated with Starfleet. Close friends and family had received real paper invitations, while everyone else received electronic invites. All in all, close to 4,000 people had been invited. It was truly supposed to be the Starfleet wedding of the year. And Dani and Will were stuck with the overwhelming task of planning it all, with the help of the prospective bride's mother, best friend, and the Enterprise's CMO and counselor. It all gave Dani a big headache.

Will turned Dani around so that she was facing him. "Imzadi," he said softly. She looked up at him. There was that word again. He hadn't used it often, but when he had, it'd never sat right with her. "It'll all be over soon," he continued. "And before you know it, you will be Mrs. Will Riker." Dani pushed the Imzadi thought from her mind once again as Will leaned down to kiss her.

When Will's commbadge chirped, the moment was broken. "Captain Picard to Commander Riker." Will reluctantly tapped his badge. "Riker here, sir," he said. "What can I do for you?"

"Will, I need to see you and Lt. Janeway in my ready room immediately," the captain said over the comm link. Will and Dani exchanged glances, noting the hint of urgency in Picard's voice.

"We're on our way, sir. Riker out." Will tapped his badge once more, closing the link. Dani looked up at him. She just knew that the leisurely pace she'd been enjoying had ended with that message they'd just received from the captain.

"After you," Will said with mock glee, as he gestured to the door.

Xxx

When Dani and Will entered the captain's ready room a few minutes later, they both stopped short when they found Alynna Nechayev standing beside Captain Picard in front of his desk. Dani's blood ran cold with fear and apprehension. The last conversation she'd had with the admiral remained a clear memory.

Will cast a questioning glance at the captain, who stepped forward, bridging the gap between the admiral and the newcommers. "Will, Dani - you remember Admrial Nechayev," Picard said cordially. Will and Dani both nodded in the direction of the older blonde. "Have a seat," Picard told his officers. Dani and Will exchanged uneasy glances before sitting down in the two chairs in front of the captain's desk. Picard nodded to Nechayev. "Admiral," he said, before taking his own seat behind his desk.

"Thank you, Captain," Nechayev said. She sat down in a chair positioned beside Captain Picard's desk.

Will and Dani were both nervous. They both knew this was a woman who disliked both of them for whatever reasons. She'd always reminded Will of his grade school principal. She made him feel like he was 10 years old again in the principal's office waiting for a punishment to be handed out. Will resisted the urge to tug at his collar, which suddenly felt as if it were a size too tight.

"First off, I'd like to congratulate you both on your engagement," Nechayev said.

That was not what Dani and Will had expected to hear from the woman sitting across from them. They looked at each other briefly. "Thank you, Admiral," Will said, keeping his tone and facial expression professional.

"You do realize, however, that there are certain protocols concerning married officers serving aboard the same ship," the admiral pointed out.

'What was the point of even congratulating us if that was going to be the next thing out of your mouth?' Dani thought.

Will sighed internally. He hoped that wasn't the reason she'd come all the way out here, to rain on the parade that was to be his and Dani's marriage. "Yes, ma'am. We're well aware of them," Will said, taking special care to keep the venom out of his voice.

"Good," Nechayev said. "But that is not the purpose of my visit today. Are either of you aware of a man by the name of Hea Star?" Both Will and Dani shook their heads to the negative. "He was the Federation ambassador to Cardassia right before the end the Dominion War."

Will looked at Captain Picard, surprised. "I didn't know we had any people on Prime whose purpose was purely diplomatic in nature," he said.

"We did," Nechayev continued. "And we still do." Dani and Will looked at Nechayev. "I doubt that I need to tell you what that means," Nechayev said. Cardassia was a mess now, and after the war had ended, the Cardassians had never officially allied with the Federation. In fact, they were still considered a very real threat. Despite their current condition, they were growing in strength, and weren't beyond allying with other stronger "former" enemies.

What all this meant was that Federation citizens that remained in Cardassian space were in grave danger.

"Is Ambassador Star still alive?" Will inquired.

"Our sources on Prime say yes, but he's being detained in a Cardassian labor camp," Nechayev replied.

"He won't last long there," Dani commented.

"Which is where you come in," Nechayev said, earning surprised looks from Will and Dani. "The two of you will infiltrate the camp where the ambassador is being held, rescue him, and return with him to Federation space."

"Pardon my asking, Admiral," Dani began, "but wouldn't Special Forces be better suited for this type of mission?"

"In any other situation, yes, but for this one, no. It looks like your history, Lieutenant, has come in handy for us."

Dani was confused. What did her history have to do with any of this? Was Nechayev speaking of her time with Dukat? She hadn't learned any kind of strategic knowledge from him.

"I'm not sure I understand, Admiral," Dani admitted freely. "What does my past have to do with any of this?"

"It involves the manner in which you and Commander Riker will infiltrate the the camp," Nechayev informed her. "Your past relationship with Dukat will gain you access to the inner workings of the camp."

"Dukat?" Dani shook her head. "I don't understand how that is supposed transpire. I didn't gain any kind of strategic knowledge from Dukat when he was alive. Frankly, I still don't see how I'm supposed to contribute to this mission, Admiral."

"Lieutenant, Marac Dukat is still alive."

Dani nearly fell out of her chair. He'd survived? How? Where had he been? A million questions such as these stormed through Dani's head, and she wanted to fire them at Nechayev right then and there. "Alive?" she asked, shocked.

"When you infiltrate the labor camp," Nechayev began, talking to both Will and Dani, "you will allow yourselves to be captured." She turned her blue gaze on Dani. "We're banking on the assumption that when you are captured, and it is made known who you are, Dukat will want to see you. You must convince him to release Hea Star into Federation custody."

"Is he in charge of the camp?" Dani asked.

"No."

Dani thought about that. If Marac wasn't running the camp, even if she did convince him, there was no guarantee Star would go free. The words that came out of Nechayev's mouth next changed her mind.

"He's the regional head of government," she said. "He has control over the entire western hemisphere of the planet, which is where the camp is located." She stood and walked over to the viewports. "I don't need to reiterate the importance of your mission. Ambassador Star is extremely valuable to the Federation. Getting him back is of the utmost concern. Before we continue, I need to know that the both of you will be able to complete this mission without the risk of suffering from impaired judgement."

Nechayev may have been outwardly talking to both her and Will, but Dani knew that the woman was actually speaking to her. She wanted to make sure Dani wouldn't become involved with Dukat, that emotions would be in check. All the while, she was supposed to be convincing Dukat to let Star go.

The admiral continued. "I don't foresee any potential problems regarding this issue. I should hope that neither of you do either."

"No, ma'am," Will replied. Nechayev nodded at him approvingly. She looked at Dani next. The younger woman was a little longer in answering.

"Lieutenant?" Nechayev summoned.

"No, ma'am. No problems." Dani lied. There was a big problem She knew in her heart that she still loved Dukat.

"Good," Nechayev said, returning to her previous spot beside Picard's desk, but opting to stand instead of reclaim her sitting position. "I hear you're a pretty good actor, Lieutenant," she said to Dani. "It looks like you'll get the perfect opportunity to put those acting skills to use."

Dani and Will's orders had dictated that they leave for Cardassia as soon as possible. They left the Enterprise in a runabout bound for Cardassia early the next morning, at 0600 hours. It would take them three days to reach Prime from the Enterprise's location. Their cover story, for anyone who inquired, was that they had been given temporary leave to scout wedding venues for their upcoming ceremony. That was the story everyone on the Enterprise, save the captain, received as to the whereabouts of Dani Janeway and Will Riker. Dani wished that were the real reason for their absence. She was nervous out of her mind about her and Will's mission. The night before they left the Enterprise, she hadn't slept a wink. That first night on the runabout, she'd had to take a sedative to even snooze.

She and Will were now on the second day of their journey, and her condition had changed very little from the days before. Dressed in civvies, she sat on a small sofa, gazing out of a viewport. Will, also in civilian clothing, walked over and gently touched her on the shoulder. She reacted as if he'd woken her up, taking a deep breath and tensing up. She looked up at him. As he sat down behind her on the couch, she went back to looking out of the window.

Will didn't pretend not to know what was bothering her. He knew very well what it was and didn't try to hide that fact. He placed both of his hands on Dani's shoulders and began to massage.

"You're so tense," he said softly. Dani breathed in and out deeply and relaxed a little in his hands. Despite the fact that he knew most of Dani's anxiety was being caused by her feelings for another man, this was still his fiáncee, the woman he loved. He was going to get her through this, no matter what.

Will was having problems dealing with this mission as well. He remembered very well the after-effects of Jean-Luc Picard's last covert mission dealing with the Cardassians. Will had talked very thoroughly with Deanna and Beverly about what the captain had gone through, the condition he'd been in when he returned. Will could hardly get the image of Dani being tortured by the Cardassians out of his mind, and it was tearing him to bits, the very idea that she could possibly end up like the captain. But he pushed it away, that image, those thoughts. He had a job to do. He couldn't afford to have his mind run away like that.

"Dani?" Will said. No answer. He said it again. "Dani?" This time she did acknowledge him.

"Yes?" she said quietly.

"Dani, this is one of those times when I'm going to have to be a commanding officer to you, rather than a fiánce," Will said into her ear. "You've got a job to do, a duty to perform as a Starfleet officer, and I expect you to do it. You've got to put all these personal issues aside and get this mission completed. Do you understand?"

Dani turned around and looked at him. She nodded. "I understand," she whispered. "We'll get it done."

Will returned her gaze. And he believed her. That was the last time he brought up the subject. Returning to fiánce mode, he kissed her.

"Was that my commanding officer, or my fiánce?" Dani asked.

Will smiled a little. "Fiánce." Dani leaned back into him. He wrapped his arms around her, and they watched the stars streak by.

Xxx

A day and a half later, Will and Dani's runabout was entering Cardassian space. The night before they'd left, they'd corresponded with covert missions specialists who'd given them a plan for getting caught. Actually, they all knew that it wouldn't take much for them to be detained by the Cardassians. Their very presence in Cardassian space would be enough cause for arrest by the Cardassian government. The tricky part was making it look like they were trying to elude the authorities. Will and Dani had to make it seem as if they didn't want to be caught when, in all actuality, they really did want to be caught.

The specialists had devised a method of evasion that would leave just enough clues to be caught by the authorities. Dani and Will's runabout came out of warp momentarily, in high orbit above Cardassia, just long enough for them to transport down to an isolated area in the western hemisphere. Once they were clear of the ship, it was programmed to jump to warp. For the moment, the Cardassians would be preoccupied with investigating the mysterious ship. They probably wouldn't realize that someone had transported down to the surface for hours, days maybe. Regardless of how long it took, Dani and Will both knew that they would be caught. They were counting on it and were willing to take the steps necessary to ensure that would be the case.

Dressed in all-black and wearing black ski masks that were to be worn at all times until their capture, Dani and Will were lucky to have beamed down to such an isolated spot. The specialists had done a good job in pinpointing their transport site. Dani and Will looked at each other. Dani wasn't quite sure what they should do next.

Will took out a tricorder and scanned the area around them. "There's a large settlement to our west," Will read from the tricorder.

"The camp?" Dani asked.

Will recalibrated his tricorder to differentiate between species. He was picking up a number of Cardassian signals, a few Bajorans, a few other species...and one human. Concluding that this was an unlikely composition for a Cardassian city, he looked at Dani and nodded to the affirmative in response to her inquiry.

"I think so," he said. He snapped his tricorder shut and slipped it into his bag. "Let's go." He and Dani began to move toward the west. They only got the chance to take a few steps, however, before a hovercraft of some kind descended from the sky, blocking their path. Will could distinctly make out the images of two figures sitting in an open side door with a rifles of some kind pointed at them. Dani and Will instinctively turned to run the other way, but when they did so, found a contingent of Cardassian soldiers, all of them armed, moving in on them.

Dani and Will looked at each other. They hadn't expected it to happen so soon. They must've picked up the transporter signal and paid attention to it after all.

"Do not move!" one of the men in the hovercraft said over a loudspeaker. "You are trespassing in a restricted area. Put your hands in the air, and slowly turn around."

Will and Dani did as they were told, raising their hands above their heads and turning around to face the hovercrafts. Before they could do anything else, they had phaser rifle barrels pressed to the backs of their heads, and their survival packs were being removed from across their shoulders and handed off to other officers. Then their arms were promptly secured behind their backs with wrist restraints.

At the sound of their bags being opened, Will turned his head slightly to see. "Head forward!" the soldier holding onto his arm said curtly.

"This is Federation property," one of the men discovered. He looked up at the other Cardassians. "They're Starfleet."

The captors all looked at one another, surprised. The ones holding onto the prisoners ripped the face masks off the trespassers. Sure enough, they were human, they found, making another shocking discovery. The two men in the hovercraft, now resting on the ground, turned to each other, very satisfied with themselves. These would prove to be very valuable prisoners. Very valuable, indeed.

"Move!" Dani's man urged, jabbing her violently in the back with the end of the rifle. She began to walk toward the craft. Will and the other man followed.

Xxx

Dani and Will were unceremoniously guided into a large, open room. Dani's eyes immediately rose to the impressive glass-enclosed booth that loomed at the front of the room. A bright light was turned on and trained on Will and Dani, blinding them. They both squinted trying to make out the shadowy figures in the booth above them. There were two of them. That was all Will could be sure of. He squeezed his eyes shut. The bright light was beginning to give him a headache.

"Is that too bright for you...Commander?" the voice from the booth asked. Will opened his eyes once again. He couldn't see who was addressing him, but somehow, that person knew who Will was. "I don't know why you act so surprised. It isn't as if you could actually pass as just another Federation face in the crowd. At least, not in these parts." He paused a bit before continuing. "Commander William T. Riker - one of Starfleet's finest. First officer on the USS Enterprise, under the command of Captain Jean-Luc Picard." Will could practically hear the smile forming on the hidden Cardassian's face. "Oh, yes - we know all about you. And you also." Will looked at Dani. He assumed the voice was being directed at her now. It continued. "Lt. Danielle Janeway, an Operations officer aboard the Enterprise. Daughter of Admiral Kathryn Janeway and Captain Chakotay. One of Starfleet's darlings, if there are such things. Yes," he hissed, "you along with the commander, here, and the ambassador will make excellent bargaining chips."

After what seemed like an endless amount of time to the two Starfleet officers, but was probably closer to only a few minutes, one of the figures in the booth gave an order to the Cardassian officers on the ground below.

"Remove the clothing," he said through a comm system.

Dani looked up at the booth with a start. "Like hell," she said, beginning to struggle against the burly Cardassians detaining her as they proceeded to follow orders. One of them was about to deliver a hard blow to her head to quell any further resistance, but there was an unexpected intervention. The booth Cardassian who'd spoken earlier rescinded his previous order to remove hers and Will's clothing. The individuals on the floor all looked up at the booth in disbelief.

"Take them to cells," was the new order.

The Cardassian guards on the floor all looked at each other with uncertainty before carrying out the new order before proceeding to shove their prisoners out the doors through which they'd entered.

En route to their holding cells, Dani and Will were blindfolded, to keep them confused so that they wouldn't know their way around in the unlikely event that they escaped.

Dani was guided around a corner and then was told to halt. She did as she was instructed and waited. When the blindfold was removed, Dani found herself in a cruddy cell with cruddy floors and a cruddy metal cot. She was also, she discovered, without Will. She was alone with two Cardassian guards.

She looked down at her wrists. She was surprised the guards hadn't removed them, yet. After all she was already in the cell. It wasn't like she was going to try to escape. Not with armed guards watching her every breath. She turned around and looked from one of them to the other and immediately noticed an anxious look in one of the guards' eyes. 'Uh-oh,' Dani thought.

"On the cot," ordered the taller guard, whose name, Dani would later learn, was Mudak.

"Why?" Dani asked.

xxx

Will sat on the metal cot in his own cell. His restraints had been removed, and the guards had already left him to himself. He shed the top layer of his clothing, revealing a black t-shirt. It was damn hot in this place, though he wasn't surprised. It was a Cardassian prison. Cardassians preferred their environments exceptionally warm by human standards. Will attributed it to the fact that they were cold-blooded, literally. He stood and walked around his small, dirty cell. He was thinking about how unpleasant this whole ordeal would be when he heard what he thought was Dani's voice. He wasn't sure. It had been very faint.

xxx

"On the cot," Mudak repeated, more forcefully this time.

"Mudak, what are you doing?" the other guard, Lekat, asked.

"Hold this," Mudak said, pushing his gun in Lekat's direction. Lekat obediently took it. Mudak advanced toward Dani.

xxx

Will heard this exchange more clearly than he'd heard Dani's voice. This conversation was going on in the next cell, Will realized. He still wasn't sure from which direction Dani's voice had come, though. It was possible that she was in the same cell with this 'Mudak' and the other man whose voice Will had heard. He moved closer to the adjacent wall and listened.

"Mudak-" Lekat began in protest.

"Quiet!" Mudak ordered.

"Mudak, this isn't a very wise course of action," Lekat insisted.

"Fine. If you don't want to watch, then go. Leave my weapon on the floor."

'Watch what?' Will wondered, his curiosity aroused.

Mudak stared at Lekat, who was still standing near the cell's entrance. "Not leaving?" Mudak asked. "I didn't think so. Be patient, Lekat. This won't take long."

Dani's eyes fell to the growing bulge in the front of Mudak's pants, and she immediately knew what it was Mudak was after.

Mudak stopped walking. He was only inches away from Dani. He traced a pale finger along her jawline, and it took all of her strength not to throw up. Mudak was nearly Will's size. There was no way Dani was going to be able to keep this from happening, not with bound wrists. She knew that much. She also knew that she was not going to make this easy for Mudak. She promptly hocked a huge lougie that landed squarely in Mudak's eye. If he wanted her, he was going to have to work.

Mudak wiped the slimey liquid away from his face. Dani noted the look of utter disgust on Mudak's face and, for an instant, Dani had a glint of hope, as she began to think that she might have disgusted the Cardassian so much that he'd lost interest.

Not so. Dani's hope was dashed when she realized that she'd only succeeded in flaring Mudak's anger. He was still horny, but now he was furious as well. His main goal had shifted from pleasuring himself to hurting Dani. With a beast-like growl, he back-handed Dani across the face, sending her reeling down to the cot. Momentarily stunned, Dani blinked a few times trying to regain her bearings. Mudak was on top of her in an instant.

xxx

Will heard what sounded like a punch followed by a startled cry he was sure belonged to Dani. Had this Mudak fellow just punched her? "Dani?" Will called out at the wall.

xxx

Dani perked up a little bit. "Will?" she called out. She'd heard someone distinctly call out her name. It hadn't been Mudak, though, that was for sure. This person had been in another room or cell.

xxx

It was definitely Dani. Will listened carefully. It sounded like there was some sort of struggle occurring in the other room. "Dani!"

"Will!" he heard her scream out.

xxx

Mudak looked over at Lekat, with great annoyance. Lekat nodded and left the cell. Mudak turned his attention back to Dani.

xxx

"Dani!" Will yelled. He beat his hand against the wall. "Dani!" Will turned and looked at the entrance to his cell as the forcefield fell and guards entered. They pulled him away from the wall. "What the hell?" he said as he was being dragged away from the wall. "What's he doing to her? Dani! Da-" His calls were silenced when a rifle butt made contact with his forehead. Will lost consciousness and slumped to the floor.

xxx

"Will?" Dani called out. She couldn't hear him anymore and feared for his safety. "Will?" She was sure Mudak had sent the other guard to Will's cell to silence him. Tears stung her eyes. She knew they probably wouldn't hesitate to kill at least one of them. If they did, they'd still have the other one left plus the ambassador.

"Don't fret, my dear," Mudak hissed. "You'll enjoy it."

Dani kept good on her secret promise to make this as difficult for Mudak as possible. Unfortunately, a pair of bound wrists and the hands attached to them weren't very much help in this situation. After a few seconds of struggling, Mudak was able to pin Dani's hands to the cot. Dani still continued to writhe and wiggle beneath Mudak, trying to do anything that would hold off the inherent event to take place. At one point, Dani bit Mudak squarely on the ear. He yelped in pain and immediately awarded Dani another strike to the face for her troubles. Dani wanted to scream but didn't see the point in it because, though there were plenty who could hear her, there was no one who could, or would, help her if they were capable.

That's what she thought...until there was intervention, once again, as there had been earlier when she and Will had first arrived. As if he were some mutt, Mudak was picked up by the collar and literally tossed to the other side of the room. When Dani looked up into the eyes of her rescuer, she nearly fainted. If she'd been standing, her knees would have buckled. "Marac?" she managed to say.

Dukat was sitting over Dani, worried at the sight of the abuse she'd been dealt. "Danielle? Danielle? Talk to me. Are you all right?" He helped her to a sitting position, greatly concerned with her welfare.

"Dukat," Mudak said, getting to his feet. His face had paled at least two shades.

Dukat ignored Mudak for the moment, examining Dani. There didn't appear to be any broken bones, but her face was badly cut and bruised.

Dani was at a loss for words. Somewhere along the way, she'd convinced herself that she would be able to carry out this mission. She'd been wrong, she realized. How was she going to do this?

"Danielle, say something," Dukat urged, apparently worried to death.

"I'm fine," Dani finally said. "Just a few bruises."

"I can see that," Dukat said, his anger surfacing. He looked up at Mudak. "Just what did you think you were doing?" He slowly helped Dani to her feet. "Get these things off her," he ordered, indicating the restraints on her wrists.

Lekat, who'd re-entered the cell at some point, immediately came forward and removed the wrist restraints from Dani. She began to rub her wrists where the restraints had dug into her skin.

"Dukat, do you think it is wise to remove the restraints when the force field is down?" Mudak asked, timidly. "She is a prisoner."

"Out of the way," Dukat growled, leading Dani out of the cell.

Dukat led Dani into a large suite, which she presumed to be his quarters in the camp. Dani could do nothing but stare at Dukat as he examined the bruises forming on her face. Two guards were standing by awaiting any orders Dukat might have.

"Get me a dermal regenerator," Dukat ordered one of the guards without ever taking his eyes from Dani.

"Yes, Dukat," said the guard, who scurried out of the room to meet Dukat's needs.

"I'll kill Mudak for what he's done to you, for what he tried to do to you," Dukat growled.

The guard who'd left to get the regenerator returned and handed the fruit of his labor to Dukat. Dukat activated it and passed it over the various bruises and cuts on Dani's face. When he was satisfied that Dani's face had been healed, he handed the little instrument back to the guard. Placing his hands on her arms, Dukat asked if she was hurt anywhere else.

Dani shook her head. "No. I'm fine." She was lying. She felt very faint. The room was beginning to spin. Her body went limp and would've hit the floor had Dukat not been there to catch her.

"Leave us," Dukat instructed the guards. His eyes never left Dani. The guards obediently exited, leaving Dukat and an unconscious Dani alone. "Danielle? Danielle - answer me." Worried, Dukat picked her up and carried her to his bedroom. He laid her on the bed and hurriedly ran a medical scanner over her body. Dukat breathed a sigh of relief when it indicated that she was merely sleeping. She'd passed out from exhaustion and, possibly, the heat, realizing that the room was probably too warm for her. He ordered the computer to lower the temperature to the equivalent of 72 degrees Farenheit, as he began to remove her jacket. He would be a little chilly, but she would be comfortable at that temperature.

xxx

Will Riker sat calmly in his cell, trying to think of ways to escape. He and Dani were supposed to be aided by an informant, but he had yet to see or hear any sign of this person's existence.

Will reached up and felt his forehead where the guard had hit him with his rifle. He brought his hand back down and found that he was still bleeding from the wound. He'd woken up only a few minutes ago and had a headache that was killing him.

It suddenly all came back to him, how he'd been rendered unconscious and left with this monster headache in the first place. "Dani..." he mumbled. He immediately rose, a little disoriented, and walked over to the wall he knew was adjacent to Dani's cell. "Dani?" he called. "Dani!" There was no response. Will concluded that she was either unconscious or not in there anymore. If she wasn't there, then where was she? He sat back down on the metal cot, remembering Dukat. If she wasn't in her cell, Will figured she was probably with Dukat.

Will knew that Dani was a good officer and that under any other circumstances, she would do her job, but he just didn't know about it this time. Had Dani's mission involved 'convincing' anyone else, Will knew that she would do it without a second thought. But this was Dukat, a man she'd once loved dearly. And probably still did, Will thought grimly. Will and Nechayev had told her to follow through with the mission without becoming emotionally entangled with Dukat. At the same time, they'd told her to use anything and everything she had to convince Dukat to release Star. This included, but was not limited to, his emotions, their past relationship, the possibility of a future relationship, and her body, if necessary. They'd all asked her to totally separate herself from the man, but get so close to him as well.

Will shook his head gently, not wanting to aggravate his headache. What they'd asked of Dani was a lot, and while Dani had convinced everyone that she had a cap on her emotions, Will knew that this was a wildcard situation. The woman wasn't an android. She couldn't be expected to turn off her emotions like Data. Will sighed. He had no idea about how this was going to turn out.

xxx

Dani's eyes fluttered open and she stared up into the blue-eyed gaze of Marac Dukat. She reached up and touched his face. Even after having known that this moment was coming, she still wasn't prepared for it. She still couldn't believe he was sitting right there in front of her. He looked exactly as he had that night he'd been taken from her. The only difference was that now, he wore a Cardassian military uniform. "Marac," she began. "I thought you were dead."

"So did I," Dukat quipped.

"What happened?" Dani asked. She tried to sit up, and Dukat aided her.

"Easy," he said, helping her to a sitting position. "You passed out about an hour ago. My medical scanner tells me you're a very sleepy woman."

"No," Dani shook her head. "I mean, to you. What happed to you?"

Dukat knew what she was talking about. Where had he been over the past year? What had happened to him on that Romulan ship. "It's a long story," Dukat said. "You must be famished. Would you like something to eat?" He stood and moved to help her to her feet also.

"No," Dani refused flatly. "I would like to know what happened that night."

Dukat reclaimed his seat. He looked at her and, relenting, began his tale of what happened that fateful night over a year ago. "They took me from our cell, you remember, and took me to another just down the corridor," he began. "What I'm certain you thought you heard was not what actually happened. You thought they executed me because that's what the Romulans wanted you to think."

Dani shook her head. She didn't know what he was saying. "I'm not sure I understand completely," she admitted. "You're saying the Romulans simulated your execution?"

Dukat nodded. "They didn't shoot me with a disrupter," he revealed. "They read the execution proclamation, and then they shot me with a tranquilizer gun. I lost consciousness, and you heard me hit the floor. You assumed I'd been executed."

Dani couldn't believe it. All those haunting memories about that incident, and it hadn't even been real. She shook her head. There was just one question she had left to ask. "Why? Why would...why?"

"After the war ended, Cardassia tried to rebuild its government using the same structure it'd held before," Dukat explained. "But it wouldn't work. Things were just too devastated. So, it was decided that a new method of government would be needed, with new leaders. Apparently, there must have been some fans of mine on these preliminary councils because it was decided by someone that I was needed for this new government."

"But why all the secrecy? Why the ruse with the Romulans? Why not just summon you back to Cardassia?" Dani would certainly have preferred a simple summons. What she'd witnessed, what she'd thought she'd witnessed had been horrible, traumatic. It had taken her forever to get over it. She still wasn't completely over it, and here she was staring Dukat in the face.

"Because at the time, the public hated me. Bringing me back to Prime in the public eye would have doomed any new government from the start. If the people hated me, they would hate the government for bringing me back. That isn't good when you're trying to revive a government. It is most certainly detrimental when trying to start a new one. If we didn't have the people, we had nothing."

Dani stood and walked to the nearest window, which offered a breath-taking view of the city a few miles beyond where they were. She had no idea what city it was, but it was beautiful. "So, what does this mean, now?" she asked. "Do you go back to being the arch enemy of the Federation now?"

Dukat stood and moved to a position a few steps behind her. "No," he said. "It means just the opposite. It means that I'm in a position to help mend the ties between Cardassia and the Federation."

"There have to be ties in the first place for them to mended." Dani turned to face Dukat. "Right now, we're looking at pieces of thread here. Hardly ties."

"What are you trying to say?"

"I'm saying don't feed me any of your diplomatic rhetoric. Okay? It was easy for you to uphold these high and mighty morals and be the changed man that you claimed to be when we first met. You didn't have to answer to anybody then. Now, everything's changed." She stepped around Dukat, who turned and followed her.

"Nothing's changed," Dukat insisted. "I'm still the same man you met on the station."

"Then, prove it." Dani's back was still to Dukat. He approached her and touched her shoulder. She slowly turned to him. "Even if you are still the same man I met and fell in love with on the station, you won't be for long. It won't be long before they get to you, and you're doing these terrible deeds again."

"No. It won't-"

"You probably already have," Dani said, rolling over Dukat's attempt to counter.

"It is going to be different this time," Dukat said. He sounded as if he were trying to convince himself as much as he was trying to convince Dani. "Danielle – it will be different."

"Then prove it, Marac. Let Star go."

"Star?" Was that what all this was about? That's why she was here?

"You don't know why I'm here, do you? You don't know what my mission was." Dani walked back over to the bed and sat down once more. Dukat watched Dani from his current standing position. "Our mission was to come here and retrieve Ambassador Hea Star." She shook her head. "Gods, I'm not supposed to be telling you this." She looked at Dukat. "We were caught on purpose. That was our way into the camp. We knew we weren't going to be able to break Star out, so my instructions were to convince you to release him, using any means that would work. Our way out, a Cardassian informant working for the Federation."

Dukat became alarmed at that last bit of information. "Who?" he demanded.

"I can't tell you that. I don't even know."

Dukat stood there and took all of this in. She'd come here to betray him, he realized. Suddenly, a million questions sprang into his head. What was her next step? Could he ever trust another word that came from her beautiful mouth to be true? Was she lying now in what she'd just told him? At this very moment, was he being manipulated? Then she looked up at him with those big, beautiful, rich brown eyes of hers, and he threw all his doubts to the wind. Eyes like those did not lie.

"Marac, say something," Dani pleaded.

Dukat walked over to the bed and held out his hand to Dani. "Come," he said. "Let's eat." He gestured to the living area beyond the bedroom door. Dani could see that a table of food that had been set out. She took his hand, stood, and let Dukat lead her to the table. He pulled out a chair for her and seated her, seating himself a few moments later on the other side of the table.

As they placed their napkins on their laps, Dani said, "That uniform - I've never actually seen you wearing one before in person. I've seen pictures, but never in person."

"What do you think?" Dukat asked.

"Well, I can't lie - I do prefer you in civvies, but the uniform is...nice."

"That's only a polite way of saying you hate it."

Dani allowed a small smile crease her lips. "It just makes you seem a little...cold, distant. Unapproachable."

"That is precisely its purpose."

Dani sliced up her meat, which she recognized to be filet mignon. She placed a square in her mouth. It was so good. "Earlier, you were one of the men in the booth, weren't you?" she surmised, after chewing and swallowing. "You're the reason I'm still wearing my clothes."

"Yes," Dukat admitted.

"Did you know it was me when they first brought me in?"

"Yes," he took a bite of his own dish, also filet mignon, and chewed and swallowed it. He looked across the table at her. Not much had changed about her. Her hair was a little longer, but everything else was the same. Same beautiful face, same beautiful skin, same beautiful body. Same beautiful Danielle. "With Star in our custody, I half-expected something like this to happen." He took a sip of his drink and replaced his glass on the table. "I never expected them to send you, though."

For the first time since she'd awoken, Dani's thoughts found the subject of Will. "My partner-"

"Commander Riker," Dukat finished for her. It left a bitter taste in his mouth, the name of his Danielle's current lover.

"Yes. What's happened to him?" Dani asked eagerly.

"He's safe, in a cell. He won't be mistreated any further. You have my word."

Dani nodded and moved on to another course, the crescent rolls.

"Commander Riker..." Dukat said, earning a warning look of sorts from Dani. "I must say, I was quite surprised to learn that you and he were back together. The way you talked about him, I thought you were through."

Dani looked down at her plate. "Well, it just goes to show that you never really know how these kinds of things will turn out."

xxx

Click, click, click, click Those were the unmistakable sounds of the footfalls of a guard. Will quickly concluded that the guard was approaching his cell. Click, click, click Will looked up. The guard was standing in front of the force field now in full view of Will. The guard eyed the prisoner suspiciously for a few moments. Then he did something that Will hadn't expected, but had hoped for-he turned off the forcefield. It was only then that Will realized the guard was carrying a tray of food.

Will stood and approached the guard to receive his food. Will expected the guard to level his gun at him and tell him to remain where he was, but that didn't happen. Instead, he stood there with the food, waiting for Riker to retrieve it.

'This is it,' Riker thought. 'My chance to escape.' He had to figure out how to disable the guard before he re-activated the force field. He approached the guard and received the tray. Then, instead of immediately re-activating the field, he turned his back on Will. Needing no further encouragement, Will hit the Cardassian over the head with the tray. The contents of the tray hit the ground just as the guard did. Will noticed a folded piece of paper flutter to the ground. When Will scooped up the guard's rifle, he picked up the paper as well, before starting off down the corridor. He rounded a corner, then paused for a second to review the paper he'd found. He unfolded it and realized that it was a map showing him the way to Hea Star's cell. It also, he realized, revealed the route to Dukat's personal quarters. Will looked back at the direction of his cell. That 'guard' must've been his informant. And he'd knocked him out cold. That was probably for the best, he figured. If there was surveillance, it'd look more authentic and less suspicious for the guard.

Will refolded the map. So, he'd been right. Dani was with Dukat. He resolved to go get Star first, then he'd move in for Dani. He checked the energy output for his weapon. Full. He looked around, making sure the way was clear before resuming his mission.

xxx

"I must admit, I'm more than just slightly jealous of him," Dukat was telling Dani. He was speaking of Will, of course. "The man that has the privilege of being your husband is a lucky man."

Dani didn't know how to respond. What do you say to a statement like that without hurting someone's feelings? She looked at him. It looked to her that his feelings were already hurt. The very fact that she was with someone else was probably enough to hurt. She knew that if he were with another woman, she'd be a little upset, herself.

"We aren't married," Dani pointed out.

"But engaged, correct, which is very close in my book."

There wasn't any contempt, hate, or anger in his words, Dani noted. Only deep sadness. It pained Dani to see him hurting like this, but she didn't know what to say. She loved Will. She couldn't honestly say that she was sorry for the relationship they had. They sat, eating in silence for a few moments longer, before Dukat spoke up.

"I thought you might like to know that I've arranged to have the commander escape," Dukat said. Dani's head shot up. "With Star, if you'd like," he added.

Dani couldn't believe her ears. That was it, just like that? Star was gone? Her mission, complete?

"I'm going to create a scenario that will allow the commander to break out," Dukat continued.

"When?"

"Not long. Any moment now, probably."

Dani nodded. "Oh," Dani said, the picture of calmness. She looked down at her food. Now that the rescue part of this trip was taken care of, there was just the matter of her feelings to sort out. What would she choose: love with Dukat, or love with duty? "Are you expecting me to go with him?" Dani asked.

"Are you planning on it?"

"Would you let me?"

Dukat placed his napkin on the table. This was ridiculous. They were both skirting around the issue at hand, here. "You know I want you here with me," he said. "I love you, Danielle. No matter how much changes, the fact still remains that I do need you. I will always need you."

Dani placed her napkin on the table and stood, her thoughts drifting back to the conversation she'd had with Rane a few months ago. Back then, it had only been a rhetorical question - who would she choose? She'd known there was no chance of the situation actually occurring in real life. Yet, here she was faced with this exact predicament. And she still didn't have an answer. She walked away from the dinner. "I can't make this kind of decision."

"You're going to have to," Dukat said. He rose and joined Dani, coming up behind her. "When Commander Riker bursts through that door looking for you, as I know he will, you're going to have to decide who it is you want to be with." He took a step closer to her. "Let me ask you something." Dani turned to face Dukat. "Do you still have any feelings for me?" he asked her. "I just want to know."

"I do," Dani said honestly "Obviously, or making this decision wouldn't be such a task for me.

"Do you love me?" he asked.

Dani looked up into Dukat's intense gaze. She knew she loved him, but telling him was harder than telling herself. Telling him would be a verbal admission to the fact that she didn't love Will as much as she thought she did. You couldn't be in love with two people and love them both equally. It didn't work that way. If it came down to it, and you had to choose, you would choose one over the other. That was the decision facing Dani right now. Did she love Will enough to walk out on Dukat and have love ripped from him a second time in their relationship? Did she love Dukat enough to walk out on Starfleet, her career, her parents...Will?

The sound of phaser fire in the corridor momentarily pulled Dani from her dilemma. She looked to the door and then back at Dukat. She knew what was happening. Her first, Academy-trained instinct told her to run to the corridor, and she was already halfway there when the doors slid open and Will entered, wielding a phase rifle. He aimed it at Dukat.

"Will!" Dani exclaimed.

"Dani, I've got the ambassador! We've got to get out of here!" Will said. Dani looked past Will's shoulder. Hea Star was standing in the doorway, on guard with a phaser of his own.

Will afforded a quick glance at Dani to ensure that her health was intact.. He hadn't believed that Dukat would've hurt her, but he couldn't be too sure. Once he was assured of Dani's health, he trained his gaze back on Dukat.

Dani looked back at Dukat and then back at Will. She had to make a decision, probably the most important of her life, within the window of the next few seconds.

Will thought Dani's glance meant she was afraid of what Dukat would do if she moved. "Let her go, Dukat," Will said sternly.

"She's free to go, Commander," Dukat said calmly. "If she so wishes." He didn't want to do anything threatening to the commander. He had a phase rifle trained squarely on him, and in the unlikely event that Dani did choose to remain with him, he wanted to be around to enjoy it.

Will watched Dani, it dawning on him that she was actually debating within herself about what to do. "Dani, come on!" he urged.

Dani looked at Will. The look in her eyes - that look - was one of such remorse and sorrow. It told him all he needed to know.

"Will..." she began. She started to take a few steps back. "I'm..." She slowly shook her head.

'...Sorry,' Will thought, silently finishing her statement. He lowered his rifle, emotionally defeated, and watched Dani take Dukat's side.

"Commander, if you hurry, you and the ambassador can still make it off Prime," Dukat said. "But you must go. Now."

Will's gaze was trained on Dani. "Will, go," Dani pleaded. "Please."

Will started to back out of the room. He looked at Dani once more, as if making very sure that this was what she wanted. She nodded slightly, and realized that his work here was done. He had the ambassador, and they were returning to Earth. He stalked out of the office, the ambassador in tow.

'She chose him,' Will thought, following his paper map to a waiting transport. 'She chose him.'


End file.
